French data protection agency CNIL has fined Amazon a significant €32 million for breaching workers’ rights through its intrusive monitoring practices. The inquiry was initiated in 2019 after a complaint from workers, and the resulting fine is equivalent to about 3% of Amazon’s annual revenue in France. CNIL found that Amazon’s French company used excessively intrusive surveillance methods, such as scanning systems to monitor employee activities in real-time, potentially forcing employees to justify their breaks and setting unrealistic time limits for quality-checking tasks. The watchdog also determined that Amazon’s practices violated the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR) as it kept all collected data for a 31-day period without obtaining proper consent. Reacting to the decision, Amazon expressed strong disagreement with CNIL’s conclusions, reserved the right to appeal, and defended its practices as compliant with applicable regulations. This is not the first time Amazon has faced criticism in France, as it temporarily suspended operations in 2020 after failing to protect workers from the Covid-19 virus. Amazon argues that its monitoring and efficiency standards are necessary for its e-commerce operations.
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France fines Amazon for overly invasive monitoring of workers
