House Committee: Amazon Obstructed Investigation

A bipartisan group of U.S. representatives wants the Justice Department to investigate Amazon for what they say is a possible criminal obstruction of a Congressional investigation.

As The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday (March 9), Republican and Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee have written to Attorney General Merrick Garland, accusing Amazon of refusing to turn over information as part of an investigation into the mammoth retailer’s competitive practices.

The letter, of which the Journal had obtained a copy, alleges this refusal was done to mask what the committee members say is a lie told by Amazon about how it treats third-party sellers.

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“Amazon repeatedly endeavored to thwart the Committee’s efforts to uncover the truth about Amazon’s business practices,” the letter reads. “For this, it must be held accountable.”

The letter goes onto say the committee members wanted to make Justice Department aware of “potentially criminal conduct by Amazon and certain of its executives,” though it does not name those executives.

The request follows a lengthy investigation by Congress into possible antitrust practices by Amazon and three other Big Tech firms: Apple, Google owner Alphabet, and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). However, the letter accuses only Amazon of illegal obstruction.

Both Amazon and the Justice Department did not immediately respond for comments, the Journal report said.

Earlier this year, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, a bill aimed at keeping Big Tech firms like Amazon from favoring their own services over others.

The bill would outlaw the practice of favoring a platform’s own products, services or lines of businesses over those of another business user and make it illegal for companies to hinder the ability of another business user’s products or services to compete on their platform.

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American tech companies have argued the legislation would hamper innovation, put privacy and security at risk by opening some of their platform functions to competitors and damage the products costumers enjoy.

Amazon and the other tech giants are also contending with a similar measure in Europe, the Digital Markets Act, which is aimed at curbing anti-competitive practices.