France’s online privacy regulator has ordered Google and Facebook to cough up some €210 million ($237 million) between them, fining the firms for their questionable use of data-tracking ‘cookies’ on their sites.

The French National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL) announced the move in a statementon Thursday, saying Google will be made to pay €150 million ($169.5 million) and Facebook another €60 million ($67.8 million) within a period of three months, or else face additional fines of €100,000 ($113,000) per day.

The commission said the way the companies employ ‘cookies’ – small amounts of data generated while users browse websites that can be used to track their activity – “affects the freedom of consent,” as Facebook and Google make it much easier for netizens to authorize that data-tracking than to decline it.

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