Amazon fined $1.3B by Italy’s antitrust authority

Italy’s antitrust regulator on Thursday fined Amazon a record $1.3 billion for illegally maintaining a dominant position in the e-commerce logistics market.

The Italian Competition Authority, or AGCM, said in a statement that Amazon had leveraged its market position to encourage Italian sellers to use its in-house delivery service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

That pressure was applied “to the detriment of the logistics services offered by competing operators, as well as to strengthen its own dominant position,” the regulator said.

Amazon blocked third-party vendors from selling through the Prime loyalty program and excluded them from special events like Cyber Monday unless they used FBA, according to a press release on the fine.

“The investigation showed that such benefits are crucial to gain visibility, to boost sales and, in turn, to the success of the sellers’ offers on Amazon.it,” the regulator said.

The ACGM has imposed “behavioural measures” on Amazon in addition to the fine that will be subject to independent monitoring.

The fine is one of the largest levied by any European nation against Amazon. The bloc has aggressively pursued the world’s biggest tech companies in recent years, slapping a handful of multibillion-dollar fines in the process.

An Amazon spokesperson told The Hill that the firm plans to appeal the fine.

“The proposed fine and remedies are unjustified and disproportionate,” they said in a statement.