Watchdog on a tear to level the playing field

cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/374990

Amazon and Meta have agreed to not use data collected from their marketplaces to unfairly benefit themselves, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced on Friday.

The monopoly watchdog launched separate investigations into both internet giants’ business practices, and accused the Big Tech duo of not only gathering up information about sellers using their respective online souks, they also - surprise, surprise - exploited that info to get a commercial advantage.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    3•1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Amazon and Meta have agreed to not use data collected from their marketplaces to unfairly benefit themselves, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced on Friday.

    The internet behemoth also promoted its own products with its Buy Box feature and it further cut into retailers’ margins by charging extra costs if they wanted to use Amazon’s Prime delivery services, the CMA said.

    The CMA said the online souk will be prevented from using third-party seller data that gives it an unfair commercial advantage, and will allow rivals to negotiate rates with independent delivery contractors working on behalf of Amazon.

    Merchants’ items will also be better supported by the Buy Box too, according to the CMA, instead of Amazon-led products or those from sellers that have bought into the company’s packing and delivery services.

    “We have engaged constructively with the CMA and we welcome this resolution which will preserve our ability to serve both our customers and the over 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses selling through our UK store,” a spokesperson for Amazon told The Register in a statement.

    The social media mega-corp was accused of exploiting advertisers hawking wares on Facebook Marketplace, and using competitors’ data to improve its own products or services.

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