Amazon hit with antitrust charges by EU regulators

The European Union has filed antitrust charges against Amazon, accusing the online retail giant of using business data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants operating on its platform.

The charges follow a two-year investigation into Amazon's dual role as a marketplace as well as a vendor, competing with other companies that are also using its platform.

Amazon is the latest company to be tackled by the EU's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, whose office has also fined Google more than €8bn (£7.1bn) over competition issues, and ordered Apple to repay €13bn (£11.5bn) in taxes to the Irish government.