SEC Continues To Investigate Amazon Over Misuse Of Sellers’ Data

The Securities and Exchange Commission continues to investigate Amazon’s anti-competitive business practices. The focus of the probe, according to a report Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal, is the use of third-party sellers' data.

The SEC has asked several Amazon officials to turn over emails and communications, according to the Journal.

The e-commerce giant has a history of copying the products that third-party sellers put on the platform, and they have done this around the world. Multiple investigations from different outlets, including Reuters and Journal reports, have uncovered scandals surrounding these tactics.

A Reuters investigation in October 2021 related to business practices in India alleged from obtained internal Amazon documents that the company manipulated “search results to favor Amazon’s own products, as well as copying other seller’s goods, were part of a formal, clandestine strategy at Amazon.”

Amazon allegedly prioritized its own products over those of the sellers, a tactic copied from these third-party sellers.

Amazon responded to the report by saying that since Reuters did not share the documents they obtained with the company, it was “unable to confirm the veracity or otherwise of the information and claims."

“We believe these claims are factually incorrect and unsubstantiated,” the spokesperson said in response to the Reuters report.

Amazon had previously been accused of lying to Congress about the issue when it said that it does not use sellers' “individual data when we’re making decisions to launch private brands.”

Founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos provided sworn testimony to Congress in 2019 and 2020 about Amazon's practices before stepping down in February 2021. Five members of the House Judiciary Committee said in October 2021 that they were considering referring him "for criminal investigation" over misleading comments.

Amazon claims to have launched an internal investigation into its private label division after multiple reports came out about the company’s practices.

Multiple government entities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia have launched investigations or taken steps to create laws that thwart these alleged anti-competitive business practices.