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".

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, BBC reported.

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

The fine comes following rising regulatory scrutiny of large tech companies due to concerns over privacy and misinformation, as well as complaints from some businesses that the tech giants have abused their market power.

The Wall Street Journal reported in June that Amazon could be fined more than $425m under the European Union's privacy law.