Amazon could fall under FTC for anti-trust related cases

Following an agreement between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), e-commerce giant Amazon could fall under FTC's jurisdiction on anti-trust subjects.

According to The Washington Post, this "kind of arrangement brokered between the DOJ and the FTC typically presages more serious antitrust scrutiny," The Verge reported on Monday.

The news comes after reports broke on Friday evening that the DOJ is preparing an anti-trust investigation into Google's search business.

Those reports noted that the FTC launched its own investigations against Google in 2011, which resulted in a civil penalty and which was later closed in 2013.

Calls for more scrutiny over the business practices of the country's major tech companies has been steadily growing over the past year.

European regulators and prominent Democratic presidential candidates have made the case to break up companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, citing their vast influence in the marketplace and their business practices.

Earlier in February, the FTC launched a new task force to investigate anti-competitive behaviour amongst tech giants within the US.

The organisation has also reportedly been looking to level a multi-billion dollar fine against Facebook for its privacy practices, the report added.

--IANS

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