Amazon hit with $886m fine for alleged data law breach

Amazon has been hit with an $886.6m (£636m) fine for allegedly breaking European Union data protection laws.

The fine was issued by Luxembourg's National Commission for Data Protection, which claimed the tech giant's processing of personal data did not comply with EU law.

Amazon said it believed the fine to be "without merit", adding that it would defend itself "vigorously".

A spokeswoman told the BBC there had been "no data breach".

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules requires companies to seek people's consent before using their personal data or face steep fines.

Luxembourg's data protection authority, also known as Commission Nationale pour la Protection des Données (CNPD), issued the fine to Amazon on 16 July, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by the company on Friday.