An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Amazon is being investigated by German authorities for allegedly abusing its market position during the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation, being led by the German Federal Cartel Office, is looking at Amazon’s relationship with third-party sellers on its platform. It began around April and comes after the Cartel Office received a number of complaints. A spokesperson for the regulator told CNBC that it is “not up to a private platform to be a price regulator or the price police.” Amazon is using “unknown mechanisms” to regulate sellers on its platform, they added.
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung was the first to report the investigation. “We are currently investigating whether and how Amazon influences retailers’ pricing on the marketplace,” Cartel Office president Andreas Mundt told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview. The regulator told CNBC that Amazon had provided it with a statement after it asked the e-commerce giant a number of questions. The responses in the statement are now being considered. The Cartel Office, which has the power to fine companies hundreds of millions of euros, declined to comment on how long the probe will take.
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot