Amazon to appeal Italy's cartel office $10.7m unfair practices fine

Italy's antitrust authority has imposed a fine of €10 million ($10.7 million) on the US retail giant Amazon for unfair business practices, but the company said it would appeal the fine.

The Italian competition authority said on Wednesday in Rome that on Amazon's Italian website, the purchase option for many products was automatically set to "regular" instead of "one-off." This considerably restricts consumer choice, it said.

In any event, a €10 million fine is unlikely to matter much to the US company, as the retail giant posted more than €10 million in profit in the fourth quarter of 2023 alone.

Two Amazon subsidiaries are affected: Amazon Services Europe, based in Luxembourg, and Amazon EU.