A consumer organization in the Netherlands sued Amazon on Wednesday for allegedly tracking online activities of website visitors, using the recently expanded legal provisions that allow for class action litigation.
Stichting Data Bescherming Nederland (SDBN) filed a lawsuit in the Netherlands claiming that Amazon violated EU privacy laws by tracking visitors to popular websites through cookies without permission. Cookies are a code used to identify individual website visitors for targeted advertising.
An EU law that came into effect in June this year requires the 27 member states of the group to enact laws to make it easier for consumer groups to file class action lawsuits against companies. Company lawyers are preparing to respond to a wave of similar complaints representing a large number of consumers.
SDBN stated that its class action lawsuit represents approximately 5 million Amazon account holders residing in the Netherlands. The organization is seeking damages for consumers and requesting a court order to stop Amazon's data tracking behavior. The lawsuit to some extent reflects the regulatory penalties imposed on Amazon by the Luxembourg privacy regulatory agency in 2021, which fined Amazon $887 million for using personal data for advertising purposes. Amazon is appealing this penalty.
A spokesperson for Amazon said, "We do not agree with these allegations and will defend ourselves through legal proceedings. Maintaining the privacy and security of customer information is our top priority, and Amazon complies with all legal requirements in the countries and regions where we operate