A cross-party group of US lawmakers has accused Amazon of misleading an antitrust committee after various reports revealed that the company had used third-party data to copy products while supporting its own products over others in search results.
Lawmakers said Monday that the information from those reports contradicted Amazon’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee. The House Judiciary Committee has been doing the bipartisan antitrust probe since 2019.
Committee members added that the committee was considering asking the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation in line with Amazon’s allegedly misleading statements.
In a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, five members of Congress who sit on the antitrust committee claimed Amazon misled the committee’s investigation into competition in digital markets.
“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 committee wrote in the letter.
The letter was signed by a bipartisan group that includes Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and four members of the antitrust subcommittee: David Cicilline, D-RI, Vice Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, ranking member Ken Buck, R-CO, and Representative Matt Gaetz, R-FL.
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