PARIS (AFP) ― Google said Wednesday it had appealed a decision by France’s data protection watchdog to fine the U.S. giant 150,000 euros ($204,000) ― the maximum possible ― for failing to comply with its privacy guidelines.

The fine last week, though tiny for a group that made $15 billion in one quarter last year, is the regulator’s biggest ever and follows in the wake of other European nations cracking down on Google’s increasingly controversial privacy polices.

“We were fully involved throughout discussions with the CNIL (France’s data protection watchdog) to explain our policy of confidentiality and the way in which it allows us to create more simple and more efficient services,” a spokesman for Google told AFP.

“We are appealing its decision.”

The CNIL on Jan. 8 had also ordered the Internet giant to publish a statement relating to its decision on its French homepage for at least 48 hours over the following eight days.

But according to the Le Figaro daily, Google appealed the decision to France’s Council of State ― its top administrative court ― in an emergency legal procedure that temporarily suspends the order until the court makes a final ruling.

The issue of data protection has gathered steam worldwide following revelations by Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, that the U.S. had a vast, secret programme called PRISM to monitor Internet users.