France's data protection authority fined electronics retailer Fnac Darty €7 million for using a third-party tracker in its mobile app without users' consent, privacy group noyb said, citing a decision it said resulted from a 2023 complaint¹.

noyb said it filed three complaints in France in September 2023, including against Fnac Darty, alleging the apps accessed and shared personal data with third parties for analytics as soon as they were opened, without offering a choice to consent or refuse¹.

The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) opened an investigation into Fnac Darty in March 2024 and confirmed those findings, noyb said¹.

According to noyb's account of the CNIL, the retailer used a tracker users had not consented to that collected browsing history to show product recommendations and to train a recommendation algorithm¹.

noyb said the CNIL restated that processing personal data for targeted advertising requires consent and confirmed Fnac Darty had tracked users without obtaining it¹.

Based on those findings, the CNIL fined Fnac Darty €7 million for failing to ask people for consent, noyb said¹.

If the company does not comply with the decision, it faces a daily penalty of €10,000, according to noyb¹.

noyb said Fnac Darty is among the largest electronics retailers in France and is also active in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland¹.

Lisa Steinfeld Leiser, a data protection lawyer at noyb, said the CNIL made clear that processing people's data for personalized advertising requires consent¹.

noyb linked to a CNIL press release, the authority's decision on Legifrance, and its original 2023 complaints; this filing is based on noyb's account¹.

Sources

1. noyb.eunoyb win: French electronics retailer Fnac Darty fined €7M6:17 AM

Read the original at noyb.eu ↗