The move continues a trend of cracking down on the operations of major tech companies in Europe.
In recent months, European regulators increasingly have been scrutinizing the practices of U.S. tech giants that dominate their respective industries, focusing their investigatory efforts on Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Now, the European Commission is launching a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon's e-books division to find out if the company is using its formidable position in the market to keep rival retailers at bay, The New York Times reported Thursday.