Lawmakers give Amazon ‘final chance’ to clear up testimony

By Matt Ott and Marcy Gordon | The Associated Press

House lawmakers are threatening to question a transgression probe of Amazon, saying the tech elephantine has a “final chance” to close its executives’ erstwhile grounds connected its contention practices.

The lawmakers sent a missive Monday to Amazon President and CEO Andy Jassy saying they were giving the institution until Nov. 1 to “correct the record” and supply caller documents and evidence. The missive marks an escalation successful the bipartisan conflict against Amazon by the House Judiciary Committee sheet that has investigated the marketplace dominance of Big Tech.

The missive says the antitrust subcommittee is considering referring the lawsuit to the Justice Department for transgression investigation. It accuses the world’s biggest online retailer of astatine slightest misleading Congress and perchance outright lying.

It cites caller media reports detailing Amazon’s alleged signifier of undercutting the businesses that merchantability connected its level by making “knock-offs,” oregon precise akin products, and boosting their beingness connected the site.

The reports straight contradict the sworn grounds of Amazon executives and different statements to Congress, the missive says. It was signed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the antitrust panel.

“We powerfully promote you to marque usage of this accidental to close the grounds and supply the Committee with sworn, truthful and close responses to this petition arsenic we see whether a referral of this substance to the Department of Justice for transgression probe is appropriate,” the missive said.

Jassy took implicit the apical presumption astatine Seattle-based Amazon from laminitis Jeff Bezos successful July. Bezos became enforcement chairman.

Amazon denied that its executives had misled the sheet successful their testimony.

“Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we person denied and sought to close the grounds connected the inaccurate media articles successful question,” the institution said successful a statement. “As we person antecedently stated, we person an interior policy, which goes beyond that of immoderate different retailer’s argumentation that we’re alert of, that prohibits the usage of idiosyncratic seller information to make Amazon private-label products.”‘

Amazon said it investigates immoderate allegations of violations of its policies and takes “appropriate action” erstwhile warranted.

“In addition, we plan our hunt acquisition to diagnostic the items customers volition privation to purchase, careless of whether they are offered by Amazon oregon 1 of our selling partners,” the connection said.

Amazon’s third-party marketplace, with autarkic merchants listing millions of their products connected the site, is simply a immense portion of the company’s business. It has astir 2 cardinal sellers connected its marketplace, and Amazon has said that much than fractional the goods sold connected Amazon.com travel from third-party sellers. It besides makes wealth by charging third-party sellers fees, bringing successful tens of billions successful revenue.

Already successful a May 2020 missive to Bezos, the subcommittee threatened a subpoena if Bezos didn’t hold voluntarily to look earlier the panel.

The Wall Street Journal reported past that Amazon utilized sensitive, confidential accusation astir sellers connected its marketplace, their products and transactions to make its ain competing products. An Amazon enforcement denied specified a signifier successful statements astatine a subcommittee proceeding successful July 2019, saying the institution has a ceremonial argumentation against it.

The missive to Bezos said the statements by Amazon lawyer Nate Sutton appeared to beryllium misleading “and perchance criminally false” oregon constituting perjury.

Bezos testified connected the contented successful an quality astatine a July 2020 proceeding connected Big Tech’s alleged monopolistic practices on with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Addressing allegations that Amazon has utilized information generated by autarkic sellers connected its level to vie against them, Bezos astatine the clip said it would beryllium “unacceptable” if those claims were proven to beryllium true.

The panel’s caller missive to Jassy besides cites the grounds by Sutton, who denied that the institution utilized sellers’ information to vie with them oregon assistance make the company’s ain private-brand products. Sutton said the site’s algorithms were “optimized to foretell what customers privation to bargain careless of the seller.”

One of the media reports cited successful the missive quotes a erstwhile Amazon worker arsenic saying: “I utilized to propulsion sellers’ information to look astatine what the champion products were erstwhile I was there.”

The missive made wide that the committee believed the media reports and not the grounds of Amazon’s representatives. “Each of these investigative reports are inconsistent with the sworn grounds and galore statements made by Amazon’s executives,” it said.

The District of Columbia sued Amazon successful May successful an antitrust action, accusing the institution of anti-competitive practices successful its attraction of sellers connected its platform. The practices person raised prices for consumers and stifled innovation and prime successful the online retail market, the suit alleged.

The suit maintains that Amazon has fixed online retail prices done declaration provisions that forestall merchants selling their products connected Amazon.com from offering them astatine little prices oregon connected amended presumption connected immoderate different online platform, including their ain websites. Amazon rejected the allegations.