Amazon sought to "influence, impede, or obstruct" the House Judiciary Committee's investigation, according to elected Democrats and Republicans.

“Faced with our requests, the leaders of Amazon have resorted to recurring deceptive practices,” they accuse in a letter addressed to the ministry and published on Wednesday.

The commission has been investigating for 16 months, in particular on the role of "judge and jury" of Amazon on its e-commerce platform, where it defines and applies the regulations for the marketing of products by products of third-party companies, but also his.

“During a committee hearing, a senior Amazon official said the company does not use data collected about third-party sellers to compete with them, and does not list its products ahead of third-party products in search results. consumer research", notes for example the commission in a press release.

"A credible investigation has shown the opposite," she adds, referring to an article by The Markup, a journalism NGO.

"Amazon lied (...)", still insist the elected officials in their letter.

They also criticize the Seattle group for explaining its regulations which "constantly change" and for not having sent the necessary documents to prove its statements.

"Unfounded" accusations, according to an Amazon spokesperson who highlights "the enormous volume of information provided over several years for this investigation".

The company, which is also the world leader in the cloud (remote computing), regularly shares the successes of third-party companies on its platform.

Last October, it published a report showing that American third-party merchants had averaged $200,000 in sales for the year ended August 31, 2021, compared to $170,000 for the previous year.

"grip"

The Judiciary Committee has repeatedly questioned representatives of Amazon, but also Silicon Valley titans, whom it accuses of abuse of a dominant position.

In July 2020, Sundar Pichai (Alphabet, parent company of Google), Tim Cook (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, now Meta) and Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon), were thus auditioned by videoconference.

"Amazon is only interested in exploiting its monopoly on online sales," David Cicilline, chairman of the subcommittee on competition, said at the time.

"Its dual role as a host and merchant on the same platform is fundamentally anti-competitive. Congress needs to take action."

To support this point, the elected Pramila Jayapal had quoted a former employee of Amazon: "(the chiefs) just tell us: + do not help yourself in the data +. But it's a real candy store, everyone has access to everything he wants"

Various investigations and lawsuits for anti-competitive practices have been launched by American states and the American competition authority against Meta and Google, in particular, but also against Amazon, to a lesser extent.

"Amazon's hold on our economy and our democracy must end. We commend lawmakers who hold Amazon to account," said Lauren Jacobs, president of the Athena coalition, which brings together anti-Amazon associations.

"We commend the members of the House Judiciary Committee for their leadership and commitment to combating Amazon's growing monopoly power," the Small Business Coalition said in a statement.

© 2022 AFP