Belgium: Closed Data Protection Authority investigation into Roularta Media Group and Google for alleged illegal cross-border data transfer

On 6 September 2024, the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA)'s Litigation Chamber dismissed a complaint lodged under Article 80(1) GDPR against Roularta Media Group N.V., a magazine owner, and Google LLC. The complaint, brought forward by Noyb - European Center for Digital Rights, a nonprofit, alleged that personal data was illegally transferred to the US via Google Analytics embedded in the flair.be website owned by Roularta. The case was dismissed because the complaint was found to have procedural issues. It was determined that Noyb was unable to establish specific violations or identify a complainant prior to the mandate. The DPA identified transparency concerns in Roularta Media's cookie and privacy policies, as well as breaches by Google related to cookie placement and data transfers.