Australian regulator to probe Amazon, eBay among online markets

FILE PHOTO: A web page featuring Amazon's Australian URL is pictured in this photo illustration in a Sydney office, Australia, April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/Illustration Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian antitrust regulator on Thursday began an inquiry into the local units of Amazon.com Inc, eBay Inc and other online markets to ensure fairness in a sector where sales have soared through the coronavirus pandemic.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which previously slapped the world's toughest content licencing rules on Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, said it was now looking at retail as part of a wider examination of so-called Big Tech.