If the latest news sources are accurate, the New York Attorney General Letitia James will be joining the investigations into the market power of Amazon. Note that the office of the AG is collaborating with the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the management of the ecommerce giant. amazon new york californiasoperbloomberg.
The update comes after Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, was questioned last week before a US antitrust committee. The questioning was based on Amazon’s unfair practices against smaller sellers on the platform. Bezos appeared along with the CEOs of Apple, Alphabet, and Facebook. All of them have faced harsh questioning because of their business practices. amazon 10m new californiasoperbloomberg.
In case you don’t know, there is already a slew of ongoing antitrust investigations into Amazon, Apple, Facebook, etc., by Congress and state AGs. The previous reports have unearthed Amazon investigations by the AGs in California and Washington. However, when approached, the representatives for both Amazon and the New York AG has declined to comment. new york californiasoperbloomberg.
The AG of New York has already accused Amazon of some serious allegations. For instance, in April, the AG’s office claimed in a letter to Amazon that the company had violated the whistleblower laws of the state. Amazon fired activist employee Christian Smalls that, indicating that the ecommerce giant is against the state whistleblowers law.
The AG also claimed in a letter written to Amazon that the ecommerce giant is offering inadequate protection to the warehouse workers of New York. Amazon has come under the radar over potential anti-competitive behavior.
For instance, many reports claim that the company illegally used its data on third-party sellers and startups to produce competing products. Now it remains to be seen how Jeff Bezos manages to tackle these ever-evolving challenges. It would also be interesting to witness his defense.