Google fined £44m under EU data privacy law

France’s data privacy watchdog has fined Google 50 million euros (£44 million), the first penalty for a US tech giant under new European data privacy rules that took effect last year.

The National Data Protection Commission said it fined the US internet giant for “lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent” regarding ad personalisation for users.

The commission said users were “not sufficiently informed” about what they were agreeing to.

It is the biggest regulatory enforcement action since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in May.

Google said in a statement it is “deeply committed” to transparency and user control as well as GDPR consent requirements and is deciding its “next steps”.