Following the Wall Street Journal’s report alleging that Amazon uses sellers’ data to make competing products, Senator Josh Hawley is asking for a criminal antitrust investigation into the claims. Hawley formally requested the investigation in a letter submitted to Attorney General William Barr today.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, Amazon employees (including executives) have been using proprietary seller data to design and price in-house, Amazon products. In a statement, Amazon denied the practice, and as recently as July, Amazon told Congress that it doesn’t use seller data to gain an unfair advantage. But with more than 20 former Amazon employees corroborating the recent report, Hawley wants to take another look.