Big Google Privacy Fine May Set Bar for EU Privacy Penalties

France’s multimillion-dollar fine against Alphabet Inc.'s Google may end up as a benchmark for other EU privacy regulators if they decide to sanction big U.S. tech companies for alleged violations of the bloc’s sweeping privacy law.

France’s privacy office, the CNIL, hit Google with a 50 million euro ($56.7 million) fine Jan. 21 for allegedly violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. Google is appealing the penalty.

If Google is unsuccessful, the French fine may nudge other data protection authorities to inflict substantial penalties on tech companies if they discover broad GDPR violations, privacy attorneys told Bloomberg Law. Regulators will ...