France's data protection authority on Wednesday issued record fines against search giant Google and fast-fashion platform Shein for failing to respect the law on internet cookies.

The two groups, each with tens of millions of users in France, received two of the heaviest penalties ever imposed by the CNIL watchdog: 150 million euros ($175 million) for Shein and 325 million euros for Google.

Both firms failed to secure users' free and informed consent before setting advertising cookies on their browsers, the authority found in a decision the companies can still appeal.

Cookies are small files saved to browsers by websites that can collect data about users' online activity, making them essential to online advertising and the business models of many large platforms.

The CNIL has stepped u

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