Due to a serious violation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Amazon was supposed to pay a fine of 746 million euros. Of course, the online retail giant did not put up with this and lodged an appeal. With success, as it now turns out. For the time being, the company does not have to pay the gigantic sum.
Inadequate authority specifications
The fine in the hundreds of millions was imposed in the summer of this year. Although it is clear that Amazon has violated current EU data protection law, the group has now been able to pull its head out of the noose. A penalty payment is not necessary for the time being. After all, the mail order company was able to win a successful appeal at the administrative court in Luxembourg. The judges saw problems in particular with the manner in which the penalty payment was made. Thus it concerned demands, which were not brought out “sufficiently clearly, precisely and without uncertainties”.
Advertising system violates GDPR
But how did the allegations against Amazon come about in the first place? The origin is probably a class action lawsuit from 2018. At that time, a total of 10,000 people joined forces to criticize Amazon’s advertising system. This is said to violate the GDPR. According to the plaintiffs, the principle of necessary consent is disregarded. In the course of this, the National Commission for Data Protection in Luxembourg (CNPD) reacted in the summer of this year. It immediately initiated proceedings. This resulted in a corresponding fine. We are curious to see how the story will continue.