Did Amazon violate federal laws? Lawmakers ask for DOJ probe

Source: Associated Press

Did Amazon violate federal laws? Lawmakers ask for DOJ probe

By MARCY GORDON
March 9, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers followed through Wednesday on their threat to seek a criminal investigation of Amazon, asking the Justice Department to investigate whether the tech giant and senior executives obstructed Congress or violated other federal laws in testimony on its competition practices.

The House Judiciary Committee escalated the bipartisan battle against the world’s biggest online retailer with a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland referring the case for a criminal inquiry.

Amazon engaged in misleading conduct that appeared designed to “influence, obstruct or impede” the antitrust subcommittee’s 2019-20 investigation into the market dominance of Big Tech, the letter says.

As an example, it cited testimony by a senior Amazon official maintaining that the company doesn’t use the data it collects on third-party merchants on its platform to compete with them, and doesn’t list its own products in customer search results before those of third parties. Those assertions have been contradicted by credible news reports, the letter says.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-amazoncom-inc-apple-inc-criminal-investigations-463f14d574c7b801a44512b615254a6a