Congressmen Ask Justice Dept. to Investigate Amazon
WASHINGTON – Members of Congress are asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Amazon.com officials lied last year when they denied giving preference to their own offerings on their website.
They sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland dated March 9 that said, “We write to alert the Department of Justice to potentially criminal conduct by Amazon and certain of its executives.”
It referred to a 16-month investigation led by the House Judiciary Committee on whether Big Tech companies violate antitrust laws by unfairly dominating their markets.
Amazon.com controls about 45% of the U.S. e-commerce market, according to industry estimates. Walmart is second at about 7%.
Some lawmakers say Amazon presents customers who search their website with their own product offerings first. Only a more extensive search would reveal products of competitors.
They also say Amazon uses confidential third-party seller data to its market advantage.
During a hearing of the subcommittee on antitrust, commercial and administrative law, Amazon officials denied the allegations.
They continued their denials this week with a statement that said, “There’s no factual basis for this, as demonstrated in the huge volume of information we’ve provided over several years of good faith cooperation with this investigation.”
The letter signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and his colleagues tells a much different story. It accuses Amazon of obstruction of Congress.
“In its first appearance before the Committee during the investigation, Amazon lied through a senior executive’s sworn testimony that Amazon did not use any of the troves of data it had collected on its third-party sellers to compete with them,” the letter says. “But credible investigative reporting showed otherwise.”
It cited interviews with former Amazon employees and internal documents that showed the company used proprietary data from its advertisers to beat them in their own markets. The data revealed the kinds of customers their competitors sought and how to attract them with favorable pricing.
In addition, “after Amazon was caught in a lie and repeated misrepresentations, it stonewalled the committee’s efforts to uncover the truth,” the 24-page letter says.
Much of the lawmakers’ suspicion falls on Chairman Jeff Bezos and Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy.
Their request for a Justice Department investigation is consistent with President Joe Biden’s campaign pledges to hold big corporations to a higher standard of ethics than the previous administration.
He appointed tough regulators to lead Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department efforts to ensure corporations comply with trade laws.
In Congress, bipartisan bills are pending to prevent tech companies from unfairly giving their own products favorable status compared with competitors.
In addition to Nadler, other members of Congress who signed the letter to the Justice Department were Rep. David N. Cicilline, D-R.I.; Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Tom can be reached at [email protected].
