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France fines Microsoft €60 million over cookies

France's privacy watchdog has fined US tech giant Microsoft €60 million for foisting advertising cookies on users.

Published: 22 December 2022 09:20 CET

France fines Microsoft €60 million over cookies

Photo by Eva HAMBACH / AFP

In the largest fine imposed in 2022, the National Commission for Technology and Freedoms (CNIL) said Microsoft’s search engine Bing had not set up a system allowing users to refuse cookies as simply as accepting them.

The French regulator said that after investigations it found that “when users visited this site, cookies were deposited on their terminal without their consent, while these cookies were used, among others, for advertising purposes.”

It also “observed that there was no button allowing to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily as accepting it.”

The CNIL said the fine was justified in part because of the profits the company made from advertising profits indirectly generated from the data collected via cookies – tiny data files that track online browsing.

The company has been given three months to rectify the issue, with a potential further penalty of 60,000 euros per day overdue.

Last year the CNIL said it would carry out a year of checks against sites not following the rules on using web cookies.

Google and Facebook were sanctioned last year by the CNI with fines of €150 million and €60 million respectively for similar breaches.

The two firms also face scrutiny over their practice of sending the personal data of EU residents to servers in the United States.

And tech giants continue to face a slew of cases across Europe.

Earlier this month, Europe’s data watchdog imposed binding decisions concerning the treatment of personal data by Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The European Data Protection Supervisor said in a statement that the rulings concerned Meta’s use of data for targeted advertising, but did not give details of its ruling or recommended fines.

The latest case follows complaints by privacy campaigning group Noyb that Meta’s three apps fail to meet Europe’s strict rules on data protection.

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How France plans to protect kids from too much screen time

Experts across the world have been sounding the alarm on childhood screen time – from its addictive nature to the effects on mental health as well as issues with sleep and concentration.

In France, children under six spend on average more than 850 hours a year on screens (ie TVs, smartphones, tablets, and games consoles) according to a 2022 Ipsos study.

Meanwhile, a survey by French public health authorities (Santé Publique France) revealed in April that two-year-olds in France spend about an hour a day in front of a screen.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced in January that he would set up a task force to investigate further by commissioning 10 experts in addiction, education, neurology, law and psychology, epidemiology and digital technology to come up with a report, assessing existing mechanisms and recommending further policy changes.

The experts will present their findings to the president on Tuesday, which could pave the way for legislation that would restrict access to technology and the internet for young people.

What does the report say?

Leaked to several of local newspapers in France on Monday, the experts reportedly found “a very clear consensus on the negative effects – both indirect and direct – of screens”, according to La Voix du Nord.

They said that time spent on screens has “consequences for children’s health, development, future, as well as the future of our society and civilisation.”

The experts focused on the ways social media can be a ‘risk factor’ for depression and anxiety, especially if there is a pre-existing vulnerability, and they noted the “alarming” level of exposure children have to pornographic and violent content.

While they specified that screens do not cause neuro-developmental disorders, they did call for vigilance.

Screen access – They advised no screens at all – including TV – for children under three years old, and then ‘highly limited’ access between three to six years old, which would involve educational content and the supervision and involvement of an adult.

Mobile phones and social media – The commission recommended only authorising mobile phones from the age of 11 – and even so – phones that do not have access to the internet. They suggested that smartphones only be given from age 13 and onward, without access to social media.

Then, at age 15, they said ‘ethical’ (ie Mastadon or Bluesky) social media consumption could be allowed. They recommended avoiding apps such as Instagram and TikTok before age 18.

Schools and nurseries – The experts recommended that secondary schools create ‘mobile-free’ areas, or even experiment with ‘smartphone-free’ schools in order to assess the impact on school life and bullying.

They also recommended that computers and televisions are banned in nurseries (crèches).

‘Predatory’ practices by tech companies – The experts also called attention to the way tech industries try to hold onto children’s attention, and they recommended efforts to “combat predatory practices such as infinite scrolling or automatic video launch”.

They said that companies’ algorithms generate addictive behaviour among minors.

European scale – The experts also said that these recommendations should be taken on board on a European scale, which President Macron has echoed previously, including during his speech last week at the Sorbonne where he argued in favour of instituting an online minimum age of 15 (‘digital majority’).

What could legislation entail?

Legislation may or may not cover the above topics, but the concept of regulating childhood screen-time has already been on the minds of French lawmakers.

Last year, in 2023, members of Macron’s Renaissance party tabled a bill that would create more training on screen time for health professionals and people who work with children, more regulation on the use of screens in nursery and primary schools.

They also sought the creation of a ‘prevention message’ on computers, tablets and phones to warn consumers, in a similar manner to tobacco products, about the dangers for young children. However, this bill still needs to be examined and debated by the Senate.

The right-wing Les Républicains party also tabled a bill at the beginning of April calling for a ban on screen usage in nurseries for children under the age of three.

What about other steps taken by the French government?

Aside from proposed legislation, lawmakers and health authorities have already taken some steps to regulate screen access and internet usage.

Recommendations from health authorities – French public health authorities had previously issued some recommendations about screen time (PDF).

Their parental guide recommends: No TV before three years old, no video games before six years old, no internet before nine years old and no internet alone (unsupervised) before 12 years old.

On top of that, at the end of May, there will be a national meeting for paediatricians, and according to Le Parisien, some topics on the table will be introducing a mental health check before collège (lower secondary school) and tools to help children sleep better. Both of these will reportedly have screen-related recommendations.

Parental control defaults – Starting in July 2024, all devices that can access the internet will need to have a default parental control. This includes smartphones, computers, TVs and game consoles, and it was part of a 2022 law for protecting children on the internet.

In practical terms, this will mean that manufacturers looking to sell their internet-enabled devices in France will need to abide by the new rules. The parental controls must be free of charge and available on the device as soon as they are put into service.

The goal is to help protect kids from pornographic content on the internet by facilitating the use of parental controls.

Manufacturers that fail to comply will risk administrative fines.

Phones in school – Technically, French law already prohibits mobile phones in nursery, primary and lower secondary school. The country’s Education Code stipulates that pupils are not allowed to use mobile phones “during any teaching activity or any other locations specified in school rules”.

As a result, kids cannot use their phones during class, but depending on the school they might be able to use their phone during recess on the playground.

Government recommended site – The French government also created the online tools to help both parents and children understand the risks online and with screen-time.

The website jeprotegemonenfant.gouv.fr has a quiz to help parents understand if they are paying close enough attention to their children’s time on screens. It also has a list of technology and social networks that allow parental controls, as well as tips on how to use them.

Social media privacy law – In February, France adopted a law to protect children’s right to privacy on the internet before they are of legal age to access social media. This created the concept of a ‘private life’ for children, requiring that parents protect their children’s ‘image rights’ by taking into account the opinion of the second parent, as well as their child’s feelings depending on their age or maturity.

Parents who ‘violate the child’s dignity’ can lose the right to share photos and videos on social media, with the power to protect the child’s privacy handed off to a third party or a judge. This was provoked by issues with ‘influencer’ parents who use images and videos of their children to make money or gain fame online.

There are also concerns around images of children being taken off of social media accounts and sent around on pornographic websites.

Cyber-bullying and a minimum social media age – In June 2023, France also passed another law creating a minimum ‘legal age’ of 15 years old to access social networks, unless the child has express parental permission. According to a 2021 survey by CNIL, on average children first sign up for social media aged eight and a half.

It also found that over half of kids aged 10-14 have social media accounts, with 80 percent of parents admitting they “do not know exactly what their children are doing online”.

It will be up to social media companies to verify age using their own techniques, but those that fail to respect the age minimums will be subject to fines.

The law also included a requirement for the government to submit a report on the consequences of time online on the physical and mental health of young people, with a due date of one year after adoption of the law.

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