ACROSS THE POND: EU ANTITRUST CHARGES AGAINST THE BEZOS EMPIRE — The European Commission announced Tuesday it was filing charges against Amazon for allegedly violating EU antitrust rules. At issue, the Commission said, is Amazon’s misuse of data it gathered from third-party sellers on the platform (more on that here). The Commission also opened a separate antitrust investigation into the e-commerce giant for potentially giving preferential treatment to its own products and services over those of its rivals. My colleagues in Europe have the details.

Amazon told them that it disagreed with the Commission’s statement of objections and that it would work with Europe’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, and her team to communicate its own take on how the internet economy works.

— Say it ain’t so: Tech trade group NetChoice, which counts Amazon as a member, fought back. The charges are “an international trade barrier disguised as European antitrust action,” said vice president Carl Szabo.

— But others pointed to the EU case as a harbinger of what’s to come stateside. House Judiciary antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) applauded the Commission’s action and called on the FTC to follow suit. Sarah Miller, executive director of the anti-monopoly group American Economic Liberties Project, said she hopes Europe becomes a model. “I look forward to seeing an American antitrust case against Amazon follow the EU’s,” Miller said.

— So: Will the U.S. follow suit? Biden is more likely than President Trump to push to overhaul American antitrust laws to rein in big tech. (The president-elect is “deeply concerned” about monopolies and market concentration.)