The Google fine, in particular, risks drawing the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has ramped up pressure on the EU after striking a lopsided trade deal in July. Trump threatened to impose severe tariffs on countries that implement “discriminatory” regulations or taxes that target U.S. tech firms.
European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič on Monday made an 11th-hour intervention to stop the Commission from issuing a penalty against Google over its search advertising practices, amid Trump’s continuing threats. The intervention came against the wishes of Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera.
The CNIL’s move to fine both the American search giant and the Chinese e-commerce firm at the same time could give it cover, should Trump accuse Europe of discriminating against U.S. Big Tech.
Both decisions were dated Sept. 1, but were announced late Wednesday evening.
The CNIL issued two fines against Google: €200 million against Google LLC and €125 million against Google Ireland, which serves as the tech giant’s European headquarters. The watchdog gave Google six months to stop displaying ads between emails in Gmail without users’ consent, and to get “valid consent” for advertising cookies from users when they create a Google account, with further fines for every day it delays. Cookies are files stored on a user’s device that contain data used to identify them and track their online activity.
The fine was particularly high, the CNIL said, because of the “very high number of people affected,” Google’s “central position in the online advertising market” and the popularity of Gmail.