Consumer protection and illegal products: Amazon targeted by a European investigation
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The European Commission announced this Wednesday that it had opened an investigation into the measures implemented by the online commerce giant. Amazon to protect consumers, particularly against illegal products. Brussels had already opened an investigation at the beginning of November targeting the Chinese site of AliExpress online sales concerning the alleged distribution of illegal products, including fake medicines.
These announcements are part of a tightening initiated by the European executive against large platforms, after the entry into force at the end of August of the new legislation on digital services (DSA) which imposes new obligations on 19 very large internet players.
Avoid personalized ads
The European Commission, responsible for enforcing the new text, has the power to sanction offenders. This Wednesday, she asked Amazon “to provide more information on the measures taken to comply with the risk assessment and mitigation obligations aimed at protecting consumers, in particular with regard to the distribution of illegal products” under the DSA, according to a press release.
The European executive’s questions also relate to “the protection of fundamental rights, as well as the compliance of recommendation systems” with the new rules.
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One of the concerns relates to the possibility offered to consumers to refuse personalized product recommendations, synonyms for exploitation of personal data. The DSA also requires online sales sites to verify the identity of sellers before authorizing them on their platform and requires them to block repeat fraudsters.
“Amazon must provide the requested information to the Commission no later than December 6, 2023. Based on the evaluation of Amazon’s responses, the Commission will determine the next steps,” the statement said.
Protecting the “physical and mental health” of minors
Such a request for information, under the DSA, does not constitute a challenge at this stage. However, this is a first step in a procedure which could ultimately lead to heavy financial sanctions in the event of proven and prolonged infringements of the regulations. In extreme cases, fines could reach 6% of the global turnover of the groups involved.
Still within the framework of the DSA, the European Commission announced on Friday November 10 an investigation into the measures implemented by Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram), and Snap (Snapchat) to protect minors, in particular their “physical and mental health”the day after an identical approach targeting TikTok and YouTube.
She had previously sent requests for information to Meta as well as to the social networks TikTok (owned by the Chinese group ByteDance) and disinformation in the context of the Israel-Hamas war.
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