Big Data Case – Europe lays out antitrust case against Amazon

The European Commission has informed the Amazon giant of its preliminary opinion that it has infringed EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in online retail markets. The Commission raises its issue with Amazon on a systematic basis based on the non-public business data of independent sellers selling in its market, for the benefit of Amazon’s own retail business, which competes directly with those third-party sellers.

The European Commission has filed a first set of antitrust allegations against Amazon, focusing on its dual role as a platform for other sellers, but also on the retailer itself on its own platform – and the cumulative use of third-party merchant data to support own retail decisions.

Competition leader Margrethe Vestager said the preliminary conclusion was that e-commerce giant Amazon had abused its market position in France and Germany, the largest markets in the EU, by using big data to “illegally distort” competition into online retail.