EU to levy antitrust charges against Amazon over treatment of third-party sellers
The European Commission is said to be preparing to file formal charges against Amazon over its treatment of third-party sellers on its platform.
The Commission will accuse Amazon of accumulating data from third-party sellers and using it to compete against them, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.
The case could appear as early as next week, with a draft charge sheet having been in circulation for the last couple of months.
As the EU’s top antitrust regulator, the Commission has been embedded in an antitrust probe of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers for two years.
The charges will reportedly include an allegation that Amazon is utilising data from its third-party sellers to create a cheaper and more targeted version of those products, thereby creating an unfair advantage.
As both a seller and operator of its marketplace, Amazon has come under scrutiny a number of times for such practices. The e-commerce giant has always denied that it abuses its power, and noted that other retailers often sell their own proprietary products.
Under the leadership of competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the Commission has ramped up its focus on competition among major technology companies.
Google parent Alphabet has been hit with more than $9bn in EU antitrust fines to date, while investigations continue into a number of others.
Attention on anti-competitive practices has also increased on US soil, with the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice and a significant number of US states investigating Big Tech activity.
Amazon declined to comment. Representatives for the European Commission were not immediately available for comment.