Five US lawmakers accuse Amazon

LONDON: Five members of the US House Judiciary committee wrote to Amazon.com Inc's chief executive on Sunday, and accused the company's top executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, of either misleading Congress or possibly lying to it about Amazon's business practices.

The letter also states that the committee is considering "whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate."

Addressed to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, the letter followed a Reuters investigation last week that showed that the company had conducted a systematic campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India to boost sales of its own brands - practices Amazon has denied engaging in. Jassy, a longtime Amazon executive, succeeded Bezos in July.

The letter states that "credible reporting" in the Reuters story and recent articles in several other news outlets "directly contradicts the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon's top executives – including former CEO Jeffrey Bezos."

"At best, this reporting confirms that Amazon's representatives misled the Committee. At worst, it demonstrates that they may have lied to Congress in possible violation of federal criminal law," the letter states. Reuters reviewed a copy of the letter.

In response, an Amazon spokesperson issued a statement that said: "Amazon and its executives did not mislead the committee, and we have denied and sought to correct the record on the inaccurate media articles in question."

It added: "As we have previously stated, we have an internal policy, which goes beyond that of any other retailer's policy that we`re aware of, that prohibits the use of individual seller data to develop Amazon private label products. We investigate any allegations that this policy may have been violated and take appropriate action."

Since 2019, the House Judiciary Committee has been investigating competition in digital markets, including how Amazon uses proprietary seller data from its platform, and whether the company unfairly favors its own products. (IANS)

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