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Amazon Privacy Violations Fine Overview:
- Who: European Union regulators fined Amazon more than €746 million two years after a complaint was filed against the company by French privacy rights group La Quadrature du Net.
- Why: La Quadrature du Net alleged in 2018 that Amazon was violating the GDPR by using consumer data for behavioral analysis and targeted advertising.
- Where: Regulators in Luxembourg, where Amazon’s European headquarters is located, issued the fine.
Amazon has been ordered to pay €746 million — the equivalent of more than $850 million USD — for breaching the European Union’s data privacy laws.
On Friday, Amazon revealed the fine in a financial filing, CNN reported.
The fine was issued July 16 under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which on its website calls itself “the toughest privacy and security law in the world.”
According to CNN, Amazon’s fine is the largest issued under the regulation in its three-year existence.
The European Union’s privacy enforcement agency says Amazon did not comply with GDPR requirements in the way it uses customer information to serve people ads. It has ordered the tech giant to change its business practices.
However, Amazon is hitting back, saying the decision was “without merit” and that it plans to defend itself vigorously on the matter, CNN reported.
“The decision relating to how we show customers relevant advertising relies on subjective and untested interpretations of European privacy law, and the proposed fine is entirely out of proportion with even that interpretation,” it reportedly said.
The fine was issued by the GDPR regulators in Luxembourg, where Amazon has its European headquarters.
The penalty stemmed from a 2018 complaint filed by French privacy rights group La Quadrature du Net, which said the GDPR had been violated through Amazon’s practice of using consumer data for behavioral analysis and targeted advertising, Law360 reported.
Ecommerce giant Amazon was founded in 1994 and has since evolved and expanded to become a mega retail corporation and the world’s largest online marketplace.
The technology company has faced backlash from both employees and consumers, with countless lawsuits and class action lawsuits resulting from a variety of allegations about its operations. These allegations have ranged from claims that the company has engaged in unfair pricing practices, to privacy violations, to claims that Amazon exposed workers to COVID-19.
Earlier this year, United States plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit claiming Amazon’s Alexa device is eavesdropping on private conversations, recording and storing them on an Amazon server for the multinational company to use at its will.
Click here to learn more about the latest Amazon class action lawsuit updates, the potential lawsuit settlement amounts, and learn about the news updates to discover if there are any Amazon settlements or class action investigations that you may be able to join.
What do you think of Amazon facing a fine for the way it collects data online? Let us know in the comments!
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One thought on Amazon Hit With €746M Fine for Online Privacy Violations in Europe
After reading the information over One Palm Print collection, that the Senators was asking I was curious if
Amazon is selling our information to other companies. I made three (complaints with ordering items from varies phone number area codes with the FTC) . An still receiving calls about if I order items today, someone seems to have our information. So is Amazon selling our information to 3rd parties for money.