The FTC, the US market regulator, is preparing a possible antitrust case against Amazon, according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Several of Amazon’s business activities could possibly be seen as anti-competitive, although the FTC has not yet made a decision.
This could include whether Amazon gives its own products a preferential position over those of other sellers , writes The Wall Street Journal based on conversations with insiders. The ‘bundling practices’ of the Amazon Prime subscription service are also being scrutinized, according to the daily. In addition, users receive advantages on the webshop, such as faster shipping, and access to Amazon’s streaming service. According to the WSJ, the FTC has not yet decided which practices will be dealt with in a possible lawsuit.
The FTC reportedly wants to talk to Amazon first to hear the company’s arguments about the potentially anti-competitive practices. The WSJ reports that it is possible that the US watchdog will ultimately not go to court, as it has often happened that the FTC decided to leave it at that after such preparations.
Bloomberg too writes based on its own sources about a possible FTC antitrust complaint against Amazon. Like the WSJ, the news agency does not cite examples of possible anti-competitive practices, but it does say that takeovers -maker-door-amazon.html”>such as those from Roomba maker iRobot can be included. According to Bloomberg, a case may be filed this spring.
Last year Amazon has signed an agreement with the European Commission, in which the tech giant promised to stop misusing the data of third-party sellers on the sales site for its own gain. The company was also no longer allowed to favor its own products.
