The publisher of video games on mobile Voodoo, a French startup valued at more than one billion euros, was fined 3 million euros by the Cnil, the guardian of the privacy of Internet users, for having traced users without their consent. According to the findings of the CNIL, Voodoo used the technical identifier of Apple devices to track the online activity of its users and send them targeted , even if the latter expressly asked not to be subject to such follow-up.
The amount of the sanction is explained by “the number of people concerned, the financial advantages” obtained by Voodoo thanks to this technique “and by the turnover achieved by the company in 2020 and 2021”, explained the Cnil in his statement. Voodoo must also comply within 3 months. The company will have to put in place a procedure for collecting the user’s consent in due form, if it wishes to use the technical identifier of its smartphone. Any delay will be penalized with a penalty of 20,000 euros per day, said the CNIL.
In a press release, Voodoo minimized the extent of the data concerned, and promised to “follow all the recommendations” of the CNIL. The identifier used is “essentially technical”, Voodoo said. This identifier “does not in any way contain more sensitive data making it possible to trace the identity of a user”, affirmed the publisher. Voodoo, which claims 150 million monthly active users on its games, is part of the club of French unicorns, these unlisted technology companies but valued at more than 1 billion euros. The company specializes in games that are easy to learn and whose games do not exceed a few minutes.
These games are very dependent on revenue, and Voodoo is seeking to diversify its model, including the acquisition of the Israeli publisher Beach Bum, in 2021. The technical identifier assigned by Apple allowed Voodoo to identify the Internet user on “all the applications of the Voodoo company”, but not with other publishers, which limits the possibilities of tracing. The information transmitted to the publisher includes in particular the system language, the device model, the brightness of the screen, the battery level, the available memory space, the Voodoo application used and the time spent, according to the deliberation of the CNIL.