Amazon’s security filing today as part of its Q2 earnings confirmed that the company is facing an absolutely massive fine of $887 million issued by the European Union.
As The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal reports, Amazon has its European headquarters located in Luxembourg, and therefore the fine was issued by Luxembourg’s privacy regulator called the National Data Protection Commission (CNPD). It’s in response to what the EU deems a failure by the company to process personal data in compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and related specifically to how Amazon advertises.
Unsurprisingly, Amazon believes the fine is without merit and will appeal the decision. An Amazon spokesperson said, “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.”
If it stands, this will be the largest fine the EU has ever issued over data protection failures. And although the specific details have not been shared, Amazon’s appeal will be in part because the fine is accompanied by a demand to revise certain business practices Amazon uses. When a draft of the decision was circulated last month, the fine was set at $425 million, but that has been increased significantly following the final agreement of all the EU’s other privacy regulators.
