For the purpose of consumer data, the EU has penalised Amazon with an amount of EUR 746 million (USD $ 887 million).
Amazon announced the decision about EU fined in a statement from the SEC on Friday. The statement began that the decision as baseless and added that it would defend itself “strongly” on the matter.
“Maintaining the security of our customers’ information and their trust is a top priority,” besides an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “There was no data breach and customer data has not shared with third parties. These facts are undeniable.
“We strongly disagree with the Luxembourg National Data Protection Commission (CNPD) decision and intend to appeal. Decisions about how to display appropriate advertisements to customers are based on subjective. And also on uncontrolled interpretations of European confidentiality laws, and the proposed fine is wholly disproportionate to that interpretation.
The sentence was the result of a 2018 complaint by French data protection group La Quadrature du Net. Furthermore it is a group that claims to represent the interests of thousands of Europeans. The lawsuit, which was also directed against Apple, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn and was filed on behalf of more than 10,000 customers. They claims that Amazon manipulated customers through commercial means by selecting the advertisements and information they received.
Amazon exceeds the fined record imposed on Google
La Quadrature du Net hailed the CNPD’s fine, “after three years of quiet, which made us terribly fearful.”
“The model of economic supremacy, based on the exploitation of our secrecy and free will, is utterly illegitimate”. And clearly it goes against all the values our democratic society claims to defend.
CNPD also decided that Amazon should commit to changing its business practices. However, the regulator has not publicly acknowledged its decision, and Amazon has not disclosed what revised business practices it offers.
The record fine, exceeding the €50 million GDPR fine imposed on Google in 2019, comes amid tighter controls on Amazon’s European business. Last November, the European Commission filed a formal antitrust lawsuit against the company. They said the retailer had abused its position to compete with third-party companies through its platform. Moreover, at the same time, the Commission is conducting a second investigation. Investigation about the alleged preference for its own products on its website and those of its partners.
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