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EU hits Amazon with antitrust charges. A huge fine could follow
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/10/tech/amazon-eu-antitrust/index.htmlThe European Union has unveiled formal antitrust charges against Amazon for abusing its dominance in online shopping and opened a second investigation into the company's business practices.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's top antitrust official, accused Amazon on Tuesday of illegally abusing its dominant position as an online marketplace in Germany and France, the company's biggest markets in the European Union.
The Commission opened a formal investigation into Amazon (AMZN) in July 2019 to probe its dual role as marketplace and retailer. It has been looking into agreements between Amazon and independent retailers, and whether data from sellers is being unfairly used by the e-commerce giant, which also sells its own products.
The investigation found that Amazon feeds non-public seller data, such as the number of products ordered and the sellers' revenues, into its own retail algorithms to help it decide which new products to launch and the price of each new offer, Vestager said on Tuesday.
That allows Amazon to marginalize third-party sellers and cap "their ability to grow," she added.