The European Union can be very hard on companies who violate its anti-monopoly laws. In this regard, it investigates basically huge companies that tend to suppress the competition with its advantageous position. According to Hong Kong’s Wind Info Agency, the EU will investigate Amazon on Anti-monopoly allegations. Amazon says that it will actively cooperate with the EU throughout the investigation.
Earlier reports suggest that EU competition director, Margrethe Vestager, will launch a comprehensive antitrust investigation against Amazon. This will happen within a few days. Allegations have it that Amazon has been collecting data from other retailers on its platform. Westag said in September last year that the EU is investigating how Amazon uses the data, and Amazon is likely to use the data to boost its own sales.
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“The core issue is the data of the small merchants Amazon collects from its platform, and whether Amazon uses this data to make a profit for itself, for example, using this data to understand current hot products which consumers are interested in,” said Westagh. In addition to hot products, what consumers want and region-specific products will also be considered in the investigation.”
Over the past two years, Google’s fine is up to 6.76 billion euros for multiple offenses including Google’s preference for independent price search services and the use of the dominant Android system to enhance its own search engine. At the same time, the European Commission is still launching a third case involving Google’s AdSense advertising service. Amazon could get similar fines if it is guilty.
