For cookie violations, Google was fined 150 million euros in France

The CNIL, France's data privacy authority, fined Alphabet's Google a record 150 million euros ($169 million) on Thursday for making it difficult for internet users to reject web trackers known as cookies.

According to the CNIL, Meta Platforms' Facebook was also fined 60 million euros for the same reason.

"The CNIL has found that the facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com websites do not allow to refuse cookies as easily as it is to accept them", the watchdog said in a statement, citing Google's video-streaming platform as an example.

The two enterprises had three months to comply with the authority's requirements or face a penalty of 100,000 euros per day they were late.

Among them is Google's and Facebook's need to provide French internet users with simpler tools for refusing cookies in order to ensure their permission.

While Google and Facebook provided a virtual button to allow immediate acceptance of cookies, the CNIL stated that there was no counterpart to instantly deny them.

"People trust us to respect their right to privacy and keep them safe. We understand our responsibility to protect that trust and are committing to further changes and active work with the CNIL in light of this decision," a Google spokesperson said.

A request for comment from Facebook was not immediately returned.