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House lawmakers ask Amazon to prove Bezos and other execs didn't lie to Congress

Then-CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, testifies in Congress by video conference on July 29, 2020.
Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images
Then-CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, testifies in Congress by video conference on July 29, 2020.

Five members of a congressional committee say Jeff Bezos and other Amazon executives misled lawmakers and may have lied under oath, according to a Monday letter to Andy Jassy, who succeeded Bezos as CEO in July.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is asking Amazon for "exculpatory" evidence in light of news reports about the company's special treatment of its own brands over other sellers' products.

The lawmakers, all members of the House Judiciary Committee, add they are weighing "whether a referral of this matter to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is appropriate." An Amazon representative on Monday said the company and its executives did not mislead the committee and denied allegations of unfair business practices.

At the center of this inquiry are questions about how Amazon treats its own private labels versus other companies' products on its site. The committee cited recent news investigations by Reuters, The Markup and others saying that Amazon used data from third-party sellers to copy products and give its own listings more prominent play, in some cases without indication.

Amazon has called the media reports "incorrect and unsubstantiated," repeating that its employees are strictly prohibited "from using non-public, seller-specific data to determine which store brand products to launch" and that it designs search results "to feature the items customers will want to purchase, regardless of whether they are offered by Amazon" or another seller.

Monday's letter was signed by New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, plus David Cicilline, D-R.I., who chairs the antitrust subcommittee, Ken Buck, R-Colo., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

The House antitrust panel has long been zeroing in on Amazon and other tech giants' use of their scale and influence. The subcommittee's Democrats produced a sweeping report a year ago, calling Amazon "a gatekeeper for e-commerce." One of the key authors, Lina Khan, is now the head of the Federal Trade Commission.

Editor's note: Amazon is among NPR's financial supporters.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Alina Selyukh is a business correspondent at NPR, where she follows the path of the retail and tech industries, tracking how America's biggest companies are influencing the way we spend our time, money, and energy.

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The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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