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Amazon has been fined $886.6 million (£ 636 million) for allegedly violating European Union data protection laws.
The fine was issued by the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection, which claims that the processing of personal data of the technology giant does not comply with EU law.
Amazon said the fine was “without merit”, adding that it would defend itself “powerfully”.
A spokesman told the f there was “no data breach”.
The rules of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (AVG) require businesses to ask permission from people before using their personal data or imposing fines.
The Luxembourg data protection authority, also known as the Commission Nationale pour la Protection des Données (CNPD), issued the fine to Amazon on July 16, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed by the company on Friday.
In response, Amazon said: “We believe that the decision of the CNPD is without merit and intends to defend ourselves strongly in this matter.”
The fine comes after increasing regulatory scrutiny of large technology companies due to concerns about privacy and misinformation, as well as complaints from some companies that the tech giants have abused their market power.
The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Amazon could face a fine of more than $ 425 million under European Union privacy law.
Amazon is by no means the first major company to fail the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (AVG), but this fine is the largest there has been since the law came into force in 2018 – and by a very large margin.
The regulation has imposed strict restrictions on the way in which sensitive data can be used, stored or processed.
While companies such as Google, British Airways, H&M and Marriot Hotels have all been fined by European governments for violating the rules, the fines were more than ten, rather than hundreds of millions.
We still do not know exactly what Amazon did to get such a severe fine.
Since national authorities are intended to take into account the seriousness, duration and nature of the offense when deciding on a fine, this should be particularly serious.
What it shows is that legislation has teeth – and that even a country like Luxembourg, which in other ways was very accommodating to American multinationals, is prepared to enforce it forcefully.
But so far, Amazon is also powerful. He says the decision of the Luxembourg government is without merit, and has promised to defend itself vigorously.