A bipartisan group of lawmakers are asking the U.S. Division of Justice to research Amazon, accusing the ecommerce big of deceiving lawmakers throughout a latest antitrust investigation.
In a March 9 letter addressed to Lawyer Common Merrick Garland, leaders of the Home Judiciary Committee declare that Amazon has refused to supply enterprise data detailing the way it makes use of knowledge belonging to third-party sellers on its platform and accusing executives of constructing "false and deceptive statements" in earlier testimony earlier than the panel. That quantities to "doubtlessly prison conduct" by the corporate and a few senior executives, whom the committee doesn't title, the letter states.
Throughout an investigation into Amazon and three different Massive Tech firms, Nate Sutton, affiliate common counsel for Amazon, testified to Congress that the corporate does not "use particular person vendor knowledge to instantly compete with them."
Since then, nonetheless, media studies have uncovered quite a few examples of Amazon showing to just do that, the lawmakers allege. The Wall Avenue Journal in 2020 revealed that Amazon accessed knowledge on gross sales of a well-liked car-trunk organizer after which launched a competing product, whereas reporting from Reuters and The Markup discovered that Amazon ranks its personal merchandise greater than competing merchandise in searches even when third-party merchandise have higher opinions and extra gross sales.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos later advised Congress that Amazon had entry to knowledge in classes the place there have been as few as two sellers, seemingly contradicting the corporate's earlier claims. However investigators have been stymied as a result of Amazon, whereas denying that it lied, refused to supply the proof to Congress, the Home lawmakers stated.
"After Amazon was caught in a lie and repeated misrepresentations, it stonewalled the Committee's efforts to uncover the reality," thy stated within the letter.
"Because of this, we've got no alternative however to refer this matter to the Division of Justice to research whether or not Amazon and its executives obstructed Congress in violation of relevant federal legislation," they added.
Amazon says it is cooperating
In an announcement, Amazon denied the Judiciary Committee's claims. "There isn't any factual foundation for this, as demonstrated within the big quantity of knowledge we have offered over a number of years of excellent religion cooperation with this investigation," the corporate stated.
The Athena coalition, a labor-oriented group that opposes Amazon, praised the transfer by lawmakers to request the Justice Division to research. "Amazon's stranglehold on our financial system and democracy have to be damaged. We applaud federal lawmakers for beginning to deliver Amazon to account, and urge additional federal motion to broaden and implement antitrust legislation and defend staff from its exploitation," it stated in an announcement.
Final week, lawmakers additionally known as out Amazon for doubtlessly firing staff illegally, and urged federal regulators to look into the corporate's attendance coverage.
It is exceedingly uncommon for firms to face prison prices, though federal prosecutors have just lately advised they're keen to deliver prison circumstances for alleged monopolies.