Amazon And Apple Fined $218 Million For Elbowing Out Small Retailers In Spain::Regulators said the tech giants colluded to box out competitors by favoring sales of Apple products directly from the online retail giant.
That’s interesting, but I would think if that was the problem it would apply to more than just Apple.
Amazon and Apple reached agreements in 2018 that limited the free competition of third-party sellers who hawk Apple goods through Amazon’s platform for smaller retailers, according to Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission, which oversees Spanish markets for antitrust violations.
“The investigated behaviors could be restricting competition in the sectors of the Internet sale of electronic products, and the provision of marketing services to third-party retailers through online platforms (Marketplace) in Spain,” the regulator said.
The tech giants also limited the capacity for third parties to advertise Apple products on Amazon, according to Spanish regulators. In addition, the companies are accused of reaching a deal that limited Amazon’s ability to direct advertising toward customers of Apple products or offer them products of competing electronics makers.
Sounds like it was because Apple and Amazon worked together for this specific outcome.
