Cookie banners are the bane of most people’s existence, popping up whenever they visit a new website. Many companies have a bad habit of making it harder to refuse cookies than to accept them, but Google and Meta (ex Facebook) will soon have to change this practice in France. French privacy and personal data regulator CNIL has hit the companies with 150 million and 60 million euro fines ($170 million and $68 million), respectively (via Reuters).

CNIL criticizes that cookies can be accepted with just one click, but rejecting them is a much more complex ordeal on Google and Meta websites, requiring you to click through a link to another subpage. The regulator took particular issues with facebook.com, google.fr, and youtube.com, saying their cookie banner setups violate the freedom of consent of internet users and thus Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act.

In addition to the fines, the regulator has ordered Google and Meta to change their cookie banners within the next three months, making it as easy to refuse cookies as it is to accept them. Should the companies fail to comply, they’ll be hit with an additional 100,000 euro per day of delay ($113,000).

In a statement to Reuters, a Google spokesperson said, "People trust us to respect their right to privacy and keep them safe. We understand our responsibility to protect that trust and are committing to further changes and active work with the CNIL in light of this decision."

Given that Google and Facebook use a similar approach to cookie banners in other parts of the world, we can only hope that it will change its practice internationally and make it easier for everyone to refuse cookies, if they so choose.