How CNIL's €900,000 Fine Exposes the Dark Side of Contest Forms

Have you ever wondered why you keep getting SMS messages from companies you've never heard of? Those random texts about "exclusive deals" and "limited offers" that somehow found your number despite you never signing up?

Here's the truth: you probably did sign up, just not the way you think. You clicked "I PARTICIPATE" on a contest, entered a giveaway, or filled out a survey for a free sample. That single click just fed your information into a billion-dollar data machine.

This isn't coincidence; it's big business. And it just cost one French company €900,000 to reveal exactly how your seemingly innocent contest entry becomes a marketing nightmare. Your phone's spam folder tells the story of a deception industry that France's data protection authority has finally decided to stop.

What Are Consent Forms and Why They Matter:

When you fill out any online form; whether for contests, free trials, newsletters, or product samples, you're providing consent for companies to use your personal information. Legally, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous.

But here's what most people don't realize: that simple form you filled out can trigger a complex chain reaction. Your email, phone number, and preferences don't just stay with the company hosting the contest. They often get categorized and sold to data brokers companies that specialised in collecting and reselling personal information to marketers.

How Consent Forms Became Manipulation Tools:

Part of the digital marketing industry has mastered the art of deceiving users through carefully designed forms that exploit human psychology and behavior.

• The Single Button Deception: Many contest forms feature one prominent button labeled "I PARTICIPATE" or "ENTER NOW." Users think they're simply entering a consent, but that single click actually authorizes two separate actions: contest entry AND data sharing with countless marketing partners. The option to enter without sharing data exists, but it's buried in tiny text or hidden in legal paragraphs.
• The False Choice Strategy : some forms show two clear buttons: "I ACCEPT" and "I DECLINE." But they don't explain what you're accepting or declining. Users think declining means they can't enter the contest, when it actually means entering without sharing your data. This confusing wording pushes users toward choices that help data collectors.
• Visual Manipulation Tactics: Forms use color, size, and placement to influence your choices. The data-sharing button is bright, large, and easy to see. The privacy option is small, grey, and easy to miss. This design tricks your natural behavior to get more consent. Clearly, these are dark patterns.

These methods turn what should be a clear choice into manipulation. Your data gets sold to multiple companies and hundreds of marketers; which is why one contest entry leads to messages from dozens of unknown businesses.

"SOLOCAL's €900,000 Wake-Up Call":

The CNIL found that SOLOCAL MARKETING SERVICES used repeated deceptive consent practices. The company offered advertising clients two services: running email and SMS campaigns, and providing customer data for telephone and postal marketing.

All their data came from third-party brokers who collected information through online contests and product tests. SOLOCAL didn't create the problematic forms, they just bought and used the data. On May 21, 2025, France's CNIL issued a €900,000 fine against SOLOCAL, plus a nine-month deadline to fix their practices or face €10,000 daily penalties.

The investigation found systematic deception across SOLOCAL's data sources. Contest forms used single buttons like "I PARTICIPATE" that both entered users in contests and authorized data sharing.

Users wanting to participate without sharing data had to find tiny links buried in legal text. Other forms had confusing buttons where users thought refusing meant they couldn't participate at all. Critical privacy information was hidden in small print while data-sharing options were made obvious and attractive.

Outsourcing is not a defense strategy:

SOLOCAL's defense was simple: they didn't design the deceptive forms; their data broker partners did. The CNIL rejected this argument entirely.

Since SOLOCAL controlled how data flowed through their systems, they were fully responsible for ensuring that data was legally collected in the first place. The principle is clear: outsourcing data collection doesn't mean outsourcing legal compliance.

The violations were straightforward:

• French Electronic Communications Code: Requires prior consent for SMS and email marketing
• GDPR Article 7: Requires companies to prove consent was validly obtained

SOLOCAL had contracts requiring partners to collect proper consent, but they failed to audit these practices effectively. When their own investigations revealed problematic collection methods, they continued using the questionable data sources anyway.

What This Means for Digital Business:

The SOLOCAL decision establishes critical principles for any company handling personal data:

• Audit Your Data Sources If you use third-party data, you must verify how it was collected. Contractual promises aren't enough;you need concrete evidence of proper consent.
• Document Everything Regulatory authorities will demand proof of valid consent. You must maintain clear records of how consent was obtained and what users were told.
• Design for Genuine Choice Consent forms must give users real options. Burying privacy-protecting choices in fine print while highlighting data-sharing options violates the law.

Take Responsibility for Your Data Chain Every company in the data flow; from initial collector to final user; bears responsibility for ensuring legal compliance.Building trust and transparency: the Fair Patterns Solution

Building trust and transparency: The Fair Patterns Solution:

Smart companies recognize that ethical consent practices aren't just about avoiding €900,000 fines; they're about building competitive advantage through user trust.

At FairPatterns, we've created an AI solution that makes digital compliance easy and swift. Our technology finds digital violations and fixes them with fully tested compliant designs that are easy to integrate online.

our solutions provide :

• Finds digital violations 100 times faster than humans - identifying problematic consent forms across websites and apps
• Fixes them with fully tested compliant designs that are easy to integrate online - providing ready-to-use solutions
• AI Agent helps operational teams creating new designs without new digital violations - preventing issues before they happen
• End-to-end, practical solution for digital compliance - covering detection, fixing, and prevention

With 97% of EU sites containing violations and enforcement ramping up, companies need comprehensive solutions that address consent compliance at every level.

The choice is clear: Continue using deceptive consent practices and risk regulatory penalties, or embrace transparency as a competitive differentiator that builds sustainable customer trust.

With 97% of EU sites containing violations and enforcement ramping up, companies need comprehensive solutions that address consent compliance at every level.

The choice is clear: Continue using deceptive consent practices and risk regulatory penalties, or embrace transparency as a competitive differentiator that builds sustainable customer trust.

Conclusion:

The era of tricking users into consent through deceptive design is ending, and the financial consequences for companies that resist this change are mounting rapidly.

The next time you encounter a contest form online, you'll recognize the real stakes involved. Behind every "I PARTICIPATE" button lies a fundamental business choice: build trust through transparency, or risk becoming the next regulatory headline.

Ready to ensure your consent practices build competitive advantage instead of legal liability? Contact Fair Patterns to transform compliance from risk into trust-building opportunity.

https://www.fairpatterns.com/contact-us

Because genuine consent should be earned through clarity, not through deception.