Belgium: Concluded data protection investigation of Roularta Media Group

On 25 May 2022, the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA) concluded its investigation of Roularta Media Group for GDPR-compliance by imposing a fine of EUR 50'000. The DPA found that the news websites knack.be and levif.be, which are run by Roularta, violated the GDPR in their cookie use. Specifically, the websites did not comply with the requirement of obtaining prior consent for cookie use from users. Cookies that were not strictly necessary were applied before consent was obtained, violating the requirement of prior consent. Further, the information given about cookies was deemed insufficient and the consent given could not be classifieded as unambiguous as the checkboxes for giving consent were ticked beforehand. The ruling concludes the first of a number of investigations into popular Belgian news websites started in 2019.