The United Kingdom will investigate whether Amazon is abusing its dominant position. The country is following in the footsteps of an EU investigation.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) wants to investigate whether Amazon also has a dominant position in the United Kingdom. If so, CMA wants to know if the company is abusing that position by favouring its own sales channels.
Amazon not only sells its own goods, but also offers space for other sellers to make money through its trading platform. According to a lot of research, such as recent from tech site The Markup, the tech giant places its own goods structurally higher in search results than those of other sellers.
The European Commission has been investigating Amazon for years. That investigation could soon come to an end: according to Politico, the two parties are pushing for a settlement. Amazon would then have to make adjustments to avoid a fine.
While the United Kingdom was still a member of the European Union, the country had to wait for the results of the EU investigation. Now, however, the British government can go after Amazon itself.
Among other things, CMA wants to know how Amazon uses data from other sellers, how the company establishes the ranking in the search results, and which goods can be sold under the Prime brand name. For example, users with a Prime subscription get these types of goods cheaper or delivered to their homes for free.
