France's CNIL fines Fnac Darty €7M for tracking users without consent

France's data protection authority CNIL has fined electronics retailer Fnac Darty €7 million for illegally deploying third-party trackers on its mobile app without obtaining user consent, following an investigation triggered by a complaint filed by privacy group noyb in September 2023.

The CNIL found that Fnac Darty was using a tracker — placed without user consent — that collected browsing history to display product recommendations and train a recommendation algorithm. The authority confirmed that processing personal data for targeted advertising requires explicit consent, which Fnac Darty had not obtained.

Noyb had filed the original complaint alongside two others targeting real estate app SeLoger and fitness app MyFitnessPal. The CNIL launched its own investigation into Fnac Darty specifically in March 2024 and confirmed noyb's findings.

Fnac Darty now faces a daily penalty of €10,000 if it fails to comply with the decision. The retailer operates across France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland.

Noyb data protection lawyer Lisa Steinfeld Leiser said the CNIL had made clear once again that processing data for personalised advertising requires consent, expressing hope that the ruling would set the tone for similar cases.