European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager holds a information convention at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, July 14, 2016.
Francois Lenoir | Reuters
The European Union’s antitrust chief is planning to open a proper investigation into Amazon in the approaching days, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing sources aware of the case.
The investigation itself doesn’t come as a shock, as EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had already launched a preliminary probe into Amazon in September and was anticipated to announce whether or not a full probe would happen. The preliminary investigation targeted on how Amazon makes use of knowledge on its third-party retailers that promote via Amazon.
Vestager defined the important thing questions she had about Amazon’s enterprise mannequin in a September interview with CNBC.
“They host a lot of little guys, and at the same time, they’re a big guy in the same market,” Vestager stated. “So how do they treat the data that they get from the little guy? Does that give them an advantage that cannot be matched?”
The probe follows a crackdown on Big Tech beneath Vestager’s time in workplace. During her time period, the European Commission has slapped Google with a mixed $9.5 billion in antitrust fines since 2017 and authorities throughout the area have additionally scrutinized Apple and Facebook for his or her completion and knowledge practices. The reported Amazon investigation follows information that Vestager’s workplace plans to superb Qualcomm over a billion {dollars} for allegedly attempting to forestall different chip makers from gaining enterprise from Apple, based on Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to remark. Amazon and didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/16/amazon-reportedly-faces-antitrust-probe-in-eu.html