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Amazon fined $1.3B by Italian regulator for abusing dominance

Amazon's business practices are coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny around the world.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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Italy has issued Amazon an antitrust fine.

 Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Italy's competition authority slapped Amazon with a 1.13 billion euro ($1.3 billion) fine on Thursday, accusing the company of abusing its market dominance. 

The fine followed an investigation during which the regulator found that Amazon was positioned to leverage its own logistics operator, Fulfilment by Amazon, putting rival logistics services at a disadvantage. Fulfilment by Amazon is tied to Amazon Prime , the paid service for the company's most loyal customers, which third-party sellers have no access to, said the regulator.

As well as the fine, Amazon will have to grant sales benefits and visibility to third-party sellers on Amazon.it, with its behavior overseen by a monitoring trustee.

That didn't sit well with Amazon.

"We strongly disagree with the decision of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) and we will appeal," said a spokesperson for Amazon in a statement. "The proposed fine and remedies are unjustified and disproportionate."

Countries around the world are upping regulatory scrutiny of tech companies, which due to the international scope of their businesses are obliged to abide by many different sets of laws. This is far from the first time Amazon has fallen foul of European competition law. Last year, the EU hit Amazon with antitrust charges, as well as announcing a second investigation into the company. Meanwhile, the retailer is also subject to an antitrust investigation in the US.