The appointment of a former Amazon boss to lead the UK’s competition watchdog as it launches a wave of investigations into technology companies has been described as a “slap in the face” by trade unions and Trumpism by consumer activists.
Business Secretary Justin Madders was forced on Wednesday to deny that the government is “in the pocket of big tech” after it appointed Doug Gore, Amazon’s former UK country director and head of Amazon China, to chair the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). .
He replaces Markus Bukerinic, who agreed to step down on Tuesday after the government asked regulators for ideas to boost economic growth.
Announcing the appointment of Gore, who will serve as interim chair for up to 18 months, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he now wanted to see the CMA “charge the economy with pro-business decisions that will drive prosperity and growth”.
It means a senior Amazon executive from 2011 to 2020 will oversee the watchdog as it launches a series of investigations into technology companies under a new regime to compete in digital markets. The system allows UK authorities to require dominant technology companies to change the way they operate to enhance competition. The first investigation concerns Google, and more inquiries into competition conditions at other companies are scheduled to be announced in the coming months.
Speaking to Parliament, Madders said: “Competition is vital to driving investment and growth, and the CMA’s operational independence will remain.”
But Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the GMB, said the appointment of the former Amazon leader to “a body aimed at combating unfair market monopolies is a slap in the face for workers”.
“We urge ministers to think again,” he said. “Amazon repeatedly and brazenly violates workers’ rights, and its market dominance has choked our high streets.”
“It’s like something out of Donald Trump’s playbook,” said Rob Harrison, associate editor of the Ethical Consumer Association, a consumer cooperative that campaigns. “Amazon has a virtual monopoly on online book selling and dominates the other areas in which it operates.
“The CMA is starting to look like a proper regulator that doesn’t look like it’s in the pocket of business. The government now appears to be stepping back from the brink of trying to properly regulate technology monopolies.
Amazon has been contacted for comment. I have He said previously It is committed to ensuring that “workers are treated with basic dignity and respect.”
The appointment comes five years after Rachel Reeves wrote booklet Which described Amazon, as well as Google and Facebook, as “monopolies of platform capitalism” that “prevent competitive markets, avoid taxes and impose oppressive control over their employees.”
“Today, her government is putting an Amazon executive in charge of our main regulator, the CMA,” said Martha Darke, co-executive director of Foxglove, a nonprofit technology campaign organization. Darke raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest between what is best for Britain and what is best for Amazon.
The Open Markets Institute, an anti-monopoly think tank, described the move as a “strategic blunder” that would hurt the UK’s economic growth.
“Replacing the CMA chief with a former Amazon executive, at a time when a handful of US tech monopolies are tightening their grip on AI, is a huge strategic mistake that will hurt, not help, UK growth and innovation,” Max said. Von Thun, Director Europe and Transatlantic Partnerships at OMI. He said that the Capital Markets Authority was at the forefront of global efforts aimed at pushing back against monopolies, in addition to gaining new powers to deal with the technology sector.
Madders was asked in the House of Commons on Wednesday whether the CMA would “hold powerful tech giants to account for the benefit of customers”. He replied: “We are very clear that we need to protect consumers, but we also need to drive growth.”
Reeves said on Wednesday that the decision to replace the head of the Capital Markets Authority was linked to differences of opinion over the regulator’s approach to growth. She said during an event at the World Economic Forum in Davos that Pokerinic “realized that it was time for him to move on and make room for someone who shares the mission and strategic direction that this government is taking.”