Image: R4997 Hasan Bratic Image: R4997 Hasan Bratic THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION announced charges against global online retail giant Amazon this morning over alleged breaches of European competition law.
It follows a Commission investigation into the company’s dual role as a marketplace for sellers and also as a competitor selling the same products and how that might give it an unfair advantage. Speaking at a press conference this morning, Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, said that the preliminary conclusion of that investigation is “that Amazon illegally abused its dominant position as a marketplace service provider in Germany and France, the biggest market basis for Amazon in the European Union.”
“Today the Commission has sent a statement of objection to Amazon, with the preliminary conclusions that Amazon illegally distorted competition in online retail markets,” Vestager said.“On the one hand, it operates a marketplace to allow for third party sellers to offer products to consumers,” she said
“On the other hand, Amazon is also a retailer on its own platform. So, Amazon directly competes with third-party sellers that rely on its platform… This model marginalises third-party sellers and limits their ability to grow.
Shocker! Who'd have thought?
We definitely need the same 'illegal abuse of its market dominance' law for social media as situations shows how important and dominated it is...