The European Union has launched a formal investigation into Amazon... over allegations it uses independent retailers' data to get an illegal edge when selling its own products.
The probe will look into the U.S. e-commerce giant's business practices to see if it has broken EU anti-trust rules.
The formal investigation comes after a preliminary investigation launched last year found Amazon was using "competitively sensitive information" from independent retailers.
Such investigations are aimed at preventing tech giants from abusing their market dominance to kill off their competition.
If Amazon is found to have breached EU anti-trust rules, it could be fined up to 23 billion U.S. dollars.
