A leading US retail group, whose members include Walmart, is eager to aid antitrust enforcers that are poised to investigate whether Amazon and Alphabet’s Google are harming competition.
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), which also represents Target and Best Buy among others, said it’s prepared to present their concerns to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, which have carved up antitrust oversight of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies.
“It’s pretty clear to us that the FTC and different relevant regulators should be taking a much closer look at these platform companies,” said Nicholas Ahrens, vice president of innovation for RILA, in an interview. “We are here to help.”
RILA joins a slew of companies, including Oracle, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and News Corp., that have raised concerns about competitive harm from dominant technology platforms. The retailers’ group has already laid out its views on competition issues to the House Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee, which is investigating the technology industry, Ahrens said… Fortune