Amazon Being Probed By U.K. Anti-trust Regulator Over Use Of Data: Report

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN is being scrutinized by the U.K. anti-trust watchdog for overuse of data following a similar probe by EU regulators.

What Happened: U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking closely at how the retail giant uses the data it collects from its platform and other unfair trade practices such as favoring one merchant over the other, the Financial Times reported.

The CMA is interested in finding out how Amazon decides which merchants will appear in the "buy box" that appears on the right-hand side of the product and has access to its Prime customers, the report said.

The investigation may also focus on finding out whether the company favors those merchants that also use its logistics and delivery services.

Related Link: Amazon Sidewalk: What Investors, Device Owners Should Know

Why It's Important: The European Commission has an ongoing investigation into whether Amazon's use of sensitive data from independent retailers selling on its marketplace violates EU competition rules. This investigation is in the advanced stages.

Both the CMA and the European Commission are also investigating whether Facebook, Inc. FB violated EU competition rules by using advertising data gathered, in particular, from advertisers in order to compete with them in markets where Facebook is active, such as classified ads.

The formal investigation will also assess whether Facebook ties its online classified ads service "Facebook Marketplace" to its social network, in breach of EU competition rules.

AMZN Price Action: Amazon shares were edging up 1.50% to $3,330.50 Thursday afternoon at publication.

Related Link: Stephanie Link Sees Continued Growth Momentum For Amazon Stock

(Photo: Christian Wiediger via Unsplash)