EU accuses Amazon of abusing marketplace control, breaking competition law

Europe accused the online giant of using the customer data it gathers to ‘artificially favour’ its own offerings over those of third-party sellers

Amazon sells its own products to retail customers through its web platforms, but also allows third-party sellers to use its marketplace for their wares

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Published: 8:39pm, 10 Nov 2020Updated: 8:39pm, 10 Nov 2020

US e-commerce giant Amazon was formally accused by the European Union on Tuesday of abusing its control over an online marketplace to distort competition, a breach of antitrust rules.

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Brussels had informed the company of its view and would push on with an investigation, while opening a second formal probe.

This second investigation will probe whether Amazon’s Prime service and the “buy box” that appears on the screen “artificially” push buyers into sellers using Amazon’s logistics service.

“We reached the preliminary conclusion that Amazon illegally has abused its dominant position as a marketplace service provider in Germany and France,” she tweeted, ahead of a news conference.

“Amazon may have used sensitive data big scale to compete against smaller retailers. Now for Amazon to respond.”

Shortly afterwards, she told journalists in Brussels: “We must ensure that dual role platforms with market power, such as Amazon, do not distort competition.”