The European Union (EU) has spoken: it will kick off a probe into Amazon's business practices over potential anti-competitive activities. Antitrust regulators will determine whether the U.S.'s biggest e-commerce firm is using data from sellers appropriately.
Amazon has responded to the call, stating that it will cooperate fully with the investigations. According to Reuters, the online retail platform confirmed that it will work with EU antitrust regulators as the probe comes into full view.
The European Commission's Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said on Wednesday that formal investigations into Amazon's business dealings will give the EU a look into how the company makes use of merchant or seller data and if the online retail giant's practices are violating EU competition regulations.
The news came after questions were raised on how the firm selects winners of its "buy box" promo that allows buyers from different corners of the world to pick products from their preferred merchant.
Industry analysts noted that Amazon's move of promptly responding with a cooperative tone could help tone down the Commission's tough stance on American "big tech." This is especially true after Vestager said regulations may be proposed in a bid to control the booming "industrial revolution."
Vestager noted that it is necessary to ensure that "large online platforms" do not overlook anti-competitive rules at any time, CNBC reported. "I have therefore decided to take a very close look at Amazon's business practices and its dual role as marketplace and retailer, to assess its compliance with EU competition rules," she stressed.
It's not surprising that Vestager finally came after Amazon. She has hinted over the past few months that she had plans to look into the platform's sales data use. She said pushing the probe forward will give officials a way to impose a fine to the company if investigation findings point to unfair practices.
Aside from Amazon, there may be another company that will be slapped with fines from the bloc: Qualcomm Inc. The American chipmaker already had to pay fines last year and it continues to be under the watchful eye of the European Commission.
It is expected that Qualcomm will be fined sometime this month under reports that it carried out unfair practices on a smaller rival in the same sector by way of under-pricing its chips.
Bloomberg noted that Vestager appears to be pushing the pedal hard on big tech as she heads to the last month of her five-year-long crackdown on American tech behemoths. Among the companies she successfully pinned down aside from Qualcomm are Apple and Google.
Vestager's tenure in the Commission's competition department paved the way for hefty fines on Google as well as repayment orders on Apple after investigations proved that the latter had back taxes to pay back.
