GDPR: Did you know that if you use the Like button on your website that you are reponsible for the information you send to Facebook?
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Recently, the Cour de justice de l'Union européenne (CJUE) released a verdict informing everybody that each website is responsible for all its visitor's private data. Since the Facebook "Like" button keeps some data on your website's visitors, whether or not they click on it, it's important to ask yourself what exactly is the impact of this verdict. Active since May 25th 2018, the GDPR protects citizens by sending hefty fines to companies that collect personnal data without their user's consent. If you don't comply with their guidelines, fines can reach 2 million Euros (approximately 3 million CAD) or 2% of the firm's entire worldwide annual revenue. For the worst infractions, penalties can reach 20 million Euros (approximately 29.6 million CAD) or 4% or a firm's entire worldwide annual revenue. So don't take this lightly! Since the penalties are so high, some companies have actually decided to block the access to their website for all countries part of the European Union. Others who are less drastic have simply decided to apply some changes according to how they interpret the guidelines the GDPR tells us to follow. Even if the CJUE decision concerns Facebook, it's important to know that Facebook isn't the only company that keeps the personnal data of users who visit your website (we're thinking about Google Analytics). Something's for sure, making sure you have your user's clear consent is the main part of the GDPR legislation, so it's important to inform your visitors about how you collect their data. You can find more information about GDPR (and what it implies) in one of our previous articles. Doing nothing could cost a fortune
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