Orange, France’s largest internet provider, has been fined 50 million euros for sending unsolicited advertisements disguised as emails to its email service customers.
Paris, France:
Orange, France’s largest internet service provider, was hit with a 50-million-euro ($53 million) fine on Tuesday for sending unsolicited advertisements disguised as emails to users of its email service.
As the successor to France’s former state-owned telephone operator, Orange remains the leading telecommunications company in the country, with a widely used email service.
Louis Dutheillet de Lamothe, deputy head of France’s privacy watchdog CNIL, stated that Orange had used its email service to insert advertisements between genuine emails, making them appear as if they were legitimate communications.
Under French law, advertisers must obtain permission before sending marketing materials to individuals via email. CNIL deemed that Orange’s actions were equivalent to sending unsolicited ads, even though the company did not use users’ email addresses directly.
The fine, which is significant but not uncommon for tech giants, was imposed after more than 7.8 million users received the unwanted ads. CNIL considered the fact that this breach generated revenue for Orange when determining the amount of the fine.
Dutheillet de Lamothe emphasized that the fine should also serve as a warning to other operators. He also noted that in November 2023, Orange updated its email interface to make the ads more apparent to users.
The investigation also revealed that Orange users who had requested to stop receiving cookies – the code that enables advertisers to track users’ online activities – continued to receive them.
Orange was given a three-month deadline to resolve this issue or face further penalties.
