Google Fined Rs 400 Crore For Violating European Data Privacy Law

Dhir Acharya - Jan 22, 2019

A French regulator has imposed a 50-million-euro fine on Google, which equals over Rs 400 crore for lack of transparency in data handling.

A French regulator has imposed a 50-million-euro fine on Google, which equals over Rs 400 crore. This is because Google failed to properly inform its users about the way it collects user data and uses them for targeting advertisements.

The penalty was issued under a new privacy law of the EU called General Data Protection Regulation, taking effect in 2018, which helps Europeans better control their data and monitor how companies handle them.

On Monday, the French National Data Protection Commission said that Google was fined because it didn’t make the information about its data collection easy to access for users, which violates their transparency obligation. Is was discovered by the commission that the tech giant didn’t show information about its purposes of processing data and the periods of data-storage in one place. Plus, sometimes users have to go through five or six clicks to get the information.

Besides, the commission called Google’s information was “too generic and vague,” criticizing the company for not providing info clearly and comprehensively. In addition, the company didn’t get valid permission from users for targeted advertising due to insufficient information.

The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR in short, illustrates stricter rules on user data storing and processing as well as requires tech firms to obtain users’ permission before using their data for other purposes. Also, companies must submit a copy of personal data to users and inform users about data breaches within three days sharp.

Google hasn’t made any comments on this news yet.

After a series of data breaches relating to giant tech firms like Google and Facebook, it seems that governments are strengthening regulations over user data. Yesterday, we learned that Facebook may be fined over $25 million for violating its agreement with the US government to keep user data private, relating to the Cambridge Analytic scandal last year. The FTC is still investigating, but Facebook'd better prepare for the worst.