France: Data Protection Authority issued compliance reminder in investigation into Qwant over misrepresentation of pseudonymised data in privacy policy

On 11 February 2025, the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) issued a compliance reminder to Qwant concerning over failure to accurately anonymise data transmitted to Microsoft. This follows a 2019 investigation into Qwant over its handling of personal data transmitted to Microsoft. The CNIL found that while Qwant had pseudonymised the data, it had inaccurately presented it as anonymised in its privacy policy, breaching transparency obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation. Consequently, the CNIL issued the compliance reminder to Qwant detailing its legal responsibilities regarding data privacy. The reminder was not accompanied by a fine, reflecting Qwant's cooperative stance and the corrective measures implemented, including updating the policy to reflect the pseudonymisation of data and clarifying its legal basis for processing.