Jeff Bezos Antitrust Hearing: Amazon CEO Confronted On Third-Party Seller Treatment, Pleads Ignorance

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was the first witness to give a prepared statement Wednesday before the House antitrust subcommittee following opening statements from committee members. In a prepared statement, Bezos started by discussing his upbringing by a teenage mother and Cuban immigrant adoptive father.

Despite being the first to give a prepared statement, Bezos was largely ignored for questioning in the first two hours of the hearing. At one point, Bezos could be observed seeming to have a snack while the other witnesses were questioned.

Following a brief recess to address technical issues, Bezos was first questioned by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., about his company’s alleged misuse of third-party seller data. Amazon, which is based in Seattle, has been accused of using this data to create products that compete with smaller businesses.

Jayapal cited testimony from an Amazon employee stating that while rules were in place to prevent this practice, they went unenforced.

“I can’t guarantee you that policy has never been violated,” Bezos responded, saying that Amazon has been investigating these potential violations.

Despite claiming in his opening statement that Amazon constitutes only 4% of U.S. commerce and 1% of global commerce, committee members argued that Amazon maintains an overwhelming edge in e-commerce, well above competitors like eBay.

Later, Bezos was grilled on its treatment of its third-party sellers. Despite publicly claiming that these small businesses were viewed as partners, committee chair Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., cited internal communications in which the company called them competitors.

Other members of the committee cited stories from third-party sellers in which they claimed that Amazon poached their bestselling products, seriously jeopardizing their livelihoods. Despite this alleged mistreatment, these businesses said that Amazon’s massive lead in e-commerce made them the only viable option.

Largely, throughout the hearing, Bezos tended to respond to the committee’s tough questions with claims of ignorance. Often his answers boiled down to saying that he did not remember or did not hear certain quotes cited, or that if certain breaches occurred, he was not aware of them. This was particularly evident when he was asked about Amazon’s smart speaker, Alexa, more often recommending Amazon products.

“I don’t know if [Alexa has] been trained in that way,” Bezos said. “I’m sure there are cases where we do promote our own products. It’s, of course, a common practice in business… so it wouldn’t surprise me if Alexa sometimes does promote our own products.”