Coalition 'concerned' over UK appointing ex-Amazon exec as antitrust regulator chair | TechCrunch

A coalition of organizations and individuals have signed an open letter expressing concern at the U.K. government’s decision to appoint a former Amazon executive as chair of the Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA ) The group, which includes U.S. tech outfits such as Yelp , DuckDuckGo, and Mozilla , say that the CMA must be “free from political pressure” to keep Big Tech in check.

Group of challenger and mid-sized tech companies, trade associations, civil society organisations, and experts have long called for greater competition in digital markets.

They are worried that the UK Government is losing sight of its commitment to robust competition enforcement of the DMU regime and the CMA ’s operational independence.

The CMA is an internationally respected regulator, not least due to its approach to digital regulation, which is now being followed around the globe.

We hope that the government will use its forthcoming Strategic Steer to the CMA to reassert its commitments to the regulator’s operational independence and to the swift implementation of the new pro-competition regime.