Shein Faces €150 Million Penalty from France over Cookie Violations

France intensifies its offensive against Shein. The Asian ecommerce company has received a fine from the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (Cnil) of 150 million euros for the inappropriate use of cookies, a decision that the company already contested and maintains its decision to appeal it.

The Cnil, the French government agency in charge of enforcing consumer data protection, has pointed out that the platform did not comply with regulations by collecting consumer data without consent.

The penalty imposed on Shein has reached a value of €150 million, which represents about 2% of the €7.684 billion in revenue that the Irish-registered company reported to have earned in Europe in 2023, the most recent results published by the Chinese giant, according to Reuters.

Shein has been under investigation for more than two years by the French anti-fraud commission.

Shein receives this sanction after it was shown that when users browsing Shein’s French website opted out of cookies, some were found to still be running on the consumer’s device. The commission detailed this test, conducted in August 2023, in a statement published on September 4.

The entity has already been fined by France on other occasions. Last July, the French antitrust office, which watches over both consumer protection and free competition, imposed a sanction against the Asian ecommerce giant after more than a year of investigation, in which it has studied the discounts advertised by the company on thousands of products.

Shein responded to the sanction by asserting that Infinite Style E-commerce Co Ltd, the company through which the Asian giant operates in France, addressed in May last year other allegations regarding price and sustainable regulations. “This shows that the allegations referred to were settled a year ago,“ the company added.