The European Union’s preliminary findings allege the tech company breached competition rules to “avoid the normal risks of retail competition” by using private data on sales to inform its own products and services. Amazon said it disagreed with the findings. (Financial Times)

Talking point: The charges come after a year-long investigation. Margrethe Vestager, overseer of the union’s competition policy, also said the EU opened a second formal antitrust investigation into Amazon, looking at whether it gave preferential treatment to its products and to those of sellers who paid for extra services. “I recognize that in other cases Amazon has been very forthcoming to solve the issues at stake,” she said, suggesting the complaints may be settled. CEO Jeff Bezos has previously promised an investigation into the company’s use of seller data. Amazon is also facing three class-action lawsuits in Canada that accuse it of illegally fixing the prices of online goods sold in the country over the past decade, and the Competition Bureau is investigating its treatment of third-party sellers. Regulators are increasingly looking into possible antitrust violations from big tech firms, with India examining Google’s payment service, and the U.S. Justice Department and 11 states filing suit against Google last month.