On Friday, Amazon disclosed its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing that the Commission Nationale pour la Protection des Données (CNPD), Luxembourg's data protection group, had fined the retail giant €746m (or $886m).
The fine, issued on July 16, is the largest fine on record under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law. The CNPD issued the fine because Amazon's European headquarters are located in Luxembourg.
Investigation into Amazon's privacy concerns began after French privacy advocacy group La Quadrature du Net waged a complaint in 2018 over how the company obtains information for targeted advertisements. In a blog post, La Quadrature du Net wrote that the decision to fine Amazon "comes after three years of silence that made us fear the worst."
"The model of economic domination based on the exploitation of our privacy and free will is profoundly illegitimate and contrary to all the values that our democratic societies claim to defend," the publication added.
But Amazon fired back, according to the Silicon Republic, saying the decision to fine the company was "without merit," and it aims to "defend ourselves vigorously in this matter."
The company issued the following statement in response to the matter:
"Maintaining the security of our customers' information and their trust are top priorities."
"We strongly disagree with the CNPD's ruling and we intend to appeal. 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."
News of the decision reached by the CNPD comes on the same day the retail conglomerate announced it would give consumers $10 for scanning and recording their palm print.
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