US lawmakers threaten Amazon with a criminal probe over the company's alleged misuse of third-party seller data and search result manipulation

Lawmakers from the US House of Representatives have threatened Amazon with a criminal investigation over the company’s alleged use of third-party seller data and manipulation of search results. This development happened after Reuters and The Markup reported that Amazon allegedly copies third-party products and manipulates search results to promote its private label products. These findings are in stark contrast to the congressional testimony that the company executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, gave last year.

Amazon executives appeared before Congress in May 2020 to give testimony about company’s business practices, including the use of third-party seller data for the development of its private label products. Bezos was also present at the hearing and tried to dispel allegations regarding the alleged use of third-party seller data to launch private brand products.

Now, lawmakers from the US House of Representatives have written a letter to CEO Jassy demanding “exculpatory evidence to corroborate the prior testimony and statements on behalf of Amazon to the Committee.” The committee is threatening to send the case over to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation if the company fails to present evidence backing its Congress testimony.

Amazon has till November 1, 2021 to respond with the requested evidence.

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