Reuters.- Italy’s competition watchdog reported Thursday that fined Amazon $ 1.28 billion for alleged abuse of a dominant position in the market, in one of the largest sanctions imposed on a US tech giant in Europe.
Amazon said it “strongly disagrees” with the Italian regulator’s decision, adding that it will appeal the decision.
Scrutiny by regulators around the world of tech giants has increased following a series of scandals about privacy and misinformation, as well as complaints from some companies about alleged abuses of their market power.
In addition to Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft have come under increased scrutiny in Europe.
The Italian watchdog said in a statement that Amazon would have taken advantage of its dominant position in the Italian market for brokerage services in markets to favor the adoption of their own logistics service -Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) – by active sellers on Amazon.it.
The regulator said Amazon linked FBA use to access to a set of exclusive benefits, including the Prime tag, that help increase visibility and drive sales on Amazon.it.
“Amazon prevents third-party sellers from associating the Prime tag with non-FBA-managed deals,” he said.
The Prime label makes it easy to sell to more than 7 million most loyal and highest spenders, members of the Amazon loyalty program.
Italy’s antitrust authority also said it will impose corrective measures that will be subject to review by a supervisory administrator.
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Amazon said that FBA “is a completely optional service” and that most third-party sellers on Amazon do not use it.
“When sellers choose FBA, they do so because it is efficient, convenient and competitive in terms of price,” the US group said in a statement.
“The fine and the proposed corrections are unjustified and disproportionate,” he added.
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