TikTok has been fined £4.43m by the French Data Protection commission for failings of their cookie policy. 

The French data protection regulator, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) has found that TikTok does not properly explain what they use cookies for, while also not providing a simple enough way to disable cookies. 

On the platform, users are presented with a one-click way to accept all cookies, but must go through a longer process to deselect different cookies. Not only is the process to disable cookies longer, but Tik Tok does not explain what the cookies are used for. 

The CNIL is therefore claiming that TikTok does not provide users with a fair or informed choice in determining their cookie preferences. 

Having a one-click method would encourage users to simply accept all cookies rather than deselecting specific types of cookies, the CNIL argues. 

This is not the first time cookie preferences have been under fire by the CNIL – in Januaray 2022, Google and Facebook were fined for having a one click accept all cookies method with multiple steps to deselect cookies. 

It is the CNIL’s position that selecting or rejecting all cookies must be an equivalent process. 

TikTok’s policy was found to be in breach of user’s right to consent and in direct violation of Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act. 

The investigation took place between May 2020 and June 2022; TikTok actually implimented a ‘Reject All’ button in February 2022, but is still being fined for the duration in which it was in breach of the data protection act. 

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Fines were imposed in line with the time, number of users – especially child users – and amount of communication the CNIL had with TikTok before the new policy was put in place. 

Currently, it is unclear if this ruling will be adopted by another other EU nations or if the ruling will contribute to any findings that TikTok was found in breach of GDRP overall rather than just the France-specific data protection act. 

Further, the CNIL may continue their cookies crusade and apply them to other platforms and websites found in breach of their policies.

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