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Google received the highest GDPR-related fine so far earlier this month. The company had to pay no less than fifty million euros from the French privacy watchdog CNIL for a lack of transparency and the way in which the company processes user data. The company has now announced that it is protesting against this.

Since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force, a number of research projects have been launched into various tech companies. One of these is Google, which received a large fine from the French privacy watchdog. Google would break the GDPR rules on transparency and have no legal basis for the way in which it processes user data around advertisements.

High fine

The case was launched after the French CNIL received several complaints from activists about the way Google uses and processes data. These complaints were submitted immediately after GDPR took effect on 25 May 2018. In essence, the complaints are about the idea of a forced agreement. Google would have practices that would require users to consent to the use and processing of their data without understanding its full implications.

However, the European Union requires companies to be specific and not ambiguous about how their information is used by users. According to the CNIL, however, Google used general and vague terminology. GDPR was developed precisely to bring outdated data legislation from the times for smartphones to the present. Companies can receive large fines of up to 20 million euros, or four percent of the world’s annual turnover if they break the rules. Google could have been fined billions.

Do not accept

However, Google will not accept the fine. The company therefore intends to appeal. We have worked hard to ensure that our processes comply with the GDPR and to make them as transparent and clear as possible, which we have based on legal requirements and tests with users, according to Google in a statement. We are also concerned about the consequences of this decision for publishers, original content creators and tech companies in Europe and other countries. For all these reasons, we have decided to appeal.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.