France hits Google with $381 million fine for consumer protection failures

PARIS (Reuters) -France's data protection authority said on Wednesday it had fined Alphabet's Google 325 million euros ($381 million) for improperly displaying ads to Gmail users and using cookies, both without Google account users' consent.

The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) also gave Google six months to ensure ads are no longer displayed between emails in Gmail users' inboxes without prior consent, and that users give valid consent to the creation of a Google account for the placement of ad trackers.

Failing that, Google and its Irish subsidiary would both have to pay a penalty of 100,000 euros per day of delay, CNIL said in a statement.

A Google spokesperson said the company was reviewing the decision and said that users have always been able to control the ads they see in their products.

In the past two years, Google has made updates to address the commission's concerns, including an easy way to decline personalised ads when creating a Google account, and changes to the way ads are presented in Gmail, the spokesperson said.

($1 = 0.8542 euros)

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul)