Google has been fined nearly $57 million by French regulators for violating Europe's tough new data privacy rules, marking the first major penalty brought against a U.S. technology giant since the regionwide regulations took effect last year.

France's top data privacy agency, known as the CNIL, said Monday that Google failed to fully disclose to users how their personal information is collected and what happens to it. Google also did not properly obtain users' consent for the purpose of showing them personalized ads, the watchdog agency said.

To French regulators, Google's business practices ran afoul of Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation. Implemented in 2018, the sweeping privacy rules, commonly referred to as GDPR, have set a global standard that has forced Google and its tech peers in Silicon Valley to rethink their data collection practices or risk sky-high fines.

The United States lacks a similar overarching federal consumer privacy law, a deficiency in the eyes of privacy rights advocates that has elevated Europe as the world's de facto privacy cop.

Read the full article here.

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Disclaimer:  This article is provided for informational purposes only. It’s not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created. Neither the author nor FTC Guardian, Inc. is endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission.