The World is Waking Up to Amazon’s Monopoly Power

November 10, 2020 Press Release

Washington, D.C. – The American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement in response to the European Commission’s announcement that it was filing new charges against Amazon for its use of sensitive business information from third-party sellers and opening an investigation into Amazon’s e-commerce practices.

“Today’s news is an encouraging sign that the world is waking up to Amazon’s monopoly power,” said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “Amazon’s abuse of third-party sellers’ data has long been evident. Yet when members of the House Antitrust Subcommittee asked Amazon executives, under oath, to explain their practices, they were met with disrespect, obfuscation, and outright dishonesty.”

“Amazon’s days of reckless disregard for the law are numbered,” added Miller. “Momentum to break the extraordinary and dangerous power of Big Tech began in Europe and has flourished in the United States. I look forward to seeing an American antitrust case against Amazon follow the EU’s and encourage all enforcers to take structural solutions seriously as a remedy to Amazon’s outsized power and abusive conduct towards small businesses.”

Read “Understanding Amazon: Making the 21st-Century Gatekeeper Safe for Democracy” here.

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Economic Liberties works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. AELP believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.