REUTERS/Eric Vidal
- The European Union’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, will launch a formal investigation into Amazon within days, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
- Last year, Vestager confirmed that her team was exploring how Amazon uses the data from third-party sellers. She made clear, however, that the work was at a preliminary stage.
- Amazon’s role as both a seller and a platform for other merchants has become one of the most contentious areas of the business, with the Federal Trade Commission also looking at the practice.
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Amazon is reportedly facing an antitrust probe in the EU.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the EU’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager — a formidable force when it comes to scrutinizing big tech — will launch a "full-blown" investigation into Amazon withing days.
Vestager said last year that her team had started to look into how Amazon was using the data from sales of its third-party sellers on the platform. She made clear at the time, however, that the work was at a preliminary stage.
Amazon and the European Commission did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Read more: The EU is now going after Amazon after slapping Google and Apple with giant fines
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The news comes just months after reports surfaced that the Federal Trade Commission in the US was questioning Amazon’s rivals about some of its business practices, including how it competes with its own third-party sellers.
Amazon’s role as both a seller and a platform for other merchants has become one of the most contentious areas of the business, especially as reports surfaced that it had been using sellers’ data to create its own versions of best-selling items.
The main concern for both regulators and competitors is that the company is so dominant that it’s impossible for others to compete.
Vestager is known for her no-nonsense attitude. Since taking on the role of EU Commissioner for Competition in 2014, she has taken action against Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google among others.
In July 2018, she fined Google $5 billion for anti-competitive practices related to its Android operating system. In 2016, Apple was forced to pay $16 billion in back taxes to Ireland.
Such is the aggression with which Vestager has pursued US tech firms, she has drawn the anger of President Donald Trump. He said last month that she "hates the United States perhaps worse than any person I’ve ever met."
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See Also:
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SEE ALSO: The FTC is asking Amazon’s rivals if they are being crushed by Jeff Bezos’ company
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mary Hanbury)