Amazon faces EU Commission antitrust charges
The EU Commission filed antitrust charges against Amazon, arguing that the platform breaches competition laws by unfairly using sellers’ data to harm their businesses. Amazon operations are based on two distinct roles. First, Amazon works with third-party sellers who use the platform to trade their products. Second, Amazon sells its own competing goods on the same platform. The EU Commission alleged that Amazon harvest non-public data from sellers who use its services and platform to identify popular products and then sell very similar products at a lower price. Moreover, the EU Commission launched another investigation on Amazon’s ‘buy box’ tool, which is designed to make it easier for consumers to quickly make a purchase. The investigation is looking to discover whether Amazon gives preference to its own products through this tool. Both investigations are grounded in Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) that prohibits the abuse of dominant position.
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