Flood of complaints about Google Analytics

With an estimated 80% market share , Google Analytics is the top dog among web analytics tools. The data protection compliant use of Google Analytics didn’t just get difficult when the GDPR came into effect. The undisputed position among the German supervisory authorities is that its use is only permitted with consent. A position paper was also published by the German Data Protection Conference (Datenschutzkonferenz, or DSK) on this subject. Following the European Court of Justice’s ruling on the requirements for the use of cookies in the Planet49 case, it must be acknowledged that most website operators do not use Google Analytics in a legally compliant manner.

Christian Bennefeld, a data protection activist, reports that the supervisory authorities of several German states have been confronted with thousands of complaints about the impermissible use of Google Analytics. In North Rhine–Westphalia alone, it’s been said that complaints have been made about 70,000 websites. At the fall conference of the BvD, Kristin Benedikt, Head of Unit 3 at the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision, reported that nationwide there had been 200,000 complaints made about Google Analytics. The supervisory authorities will have to deal with each individual case. Because of DSK’s distinct positioning and the clearer legal situation regarding the use of tracking cookies, the DSK concept for setting fines could be routinely applied. The approximate amount of the fine can be determined in just a few seconds using our fine calculator.

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