Amazon accuses FTC of harassing Bezos and Jassy in Prime investigation
Amazon claimed federal investigators have mounted a campaign to "harass" superlative executives including founder Jeff Bezos as role of a probe into alleged antitrust violations past the e-commerce giant that suffered a mysterious, six-month "breakdown" several months ago.
The Seattle-based company alleges that the Federal Trade Commission is issuing subpoenas for Bezos, current CEO Andy Jassy, and virtually two dozen other former and electric current employees and executives that are "unduly burdensome, and calculated to serve no other purpose than to harass Amazon's highest-ranking executives and disrupt its business concern operations."
Amazon'due south legal filing also alleges in that location was an unexplained "breakdown" in the FTC'southward investigation that began late final year, challenge that the agency'southward investigators went radio silent for vi months after it provided more 37,000 pages of documents.
"As Amazon continued producing responsive materials, [FTC] staff inexplicably disengaged," visitor lawyers criminate.
Later on nearly half a year of silence, Amazon said FTC officials — headed past 33-yr-old Chairwoman Lina Kahn, who Amazon has said should recuse herself from any probe of the company because of her past public criticism of Large Tech — "abruptly notified" the company in April that a "new attorney would be taking over" and that "staff was nether 'tremendous pressure level' to conclude the investigation."
FTC investigators said they were nether a "deadline" to end up the probe, but that "despite the professed urgency," the "staff members had not reviewed … half of Amazon's previously produced materials," according to the filing.
Amazon said it was then asked to produce even more than fabric within a matter of weeks, but the company "pointed out the infeasibility of staff's unreasonable and inflexible new demands."
Other prominent Amazon executives who take been subpoenaed as part of the investigation include former retail head Dave Clark and his successor, Doug Herrington.
Russ Grandinetti, the senior vice president of Amazon'southward international operations, and former vice president of the company's Prime division Greg Greeley have likewise been ensnared in the probe, according to the certificate.
Amazon says government agents served the subpoenas to the individuals in question at their homes simply before the July 4th holiday weekend.
Amazon is demanding that the federal agency "quash or limit" the subpoenas because of "unworkable and unfair" procedures that information technology believes are a "one-sided try to strength Amazon to meet incommunicable-to-satisfy demands."
"Staff's treatment of this investigation has been unusual and perplexing," Amazon claims in its filing.
The FTC wants Amazon to provide a specific number of shoppers who became "nonconsensual enrollees" of its subscription services, co-ordinate to legal filings.
It too wants Amazon to provide a log of disappearing text messages that are sent using so-called "imperceptible messaging" apps in which they hash out matters including subscription enrollment and cancellations, co-ordinate to the filing.
Amazon is also alleging that the FTC is illegally denying its erstwhile and current executives access to attorneys who jointly stand for the company and the individuals.
"[FTC] staff has gone and so far as to need that counsel leave a hearing for the starting time individual witness for failing to abide by this improper restriction," Amazon alleges in its filing.
The contents of the legal filing were commencement revealed past Insider.
The FTC is investigating Amazon for allegedly using manipulative tactics to get customers to subscribe to its Prime subscription service.
Earlier this year, Insider obtained internal documents that prove that company officials were concerned that Amazon.com's user interface designs have led customers to feel tricked into signing upward for Prime.
The controversy surrounds the alleged utilize of so-called "dark patterns" in which customers get roped into a thirty-twenty-four hour period free trial of Amazon Prime when checking out items that they purchase online — but for them to be billed monthly once the trial ends.
In order for customers to cancel the subscription, they need to click on several pages as function of a fourth dimension-consuming procedure — prompting complaints and even lawsuits from consumers.
The document indicates that the FTC'southward probe has expanded beyond the Prime segmentation, as antitrust investigators are also said to be looking into other Amazon-owned subscription services, including Audible, Amazon Music, Kindle Unlimited, and Subscribe & Save.
Amazon and the FTC accept declined to comment.
Source: https://nypost.com/2022/08/16/amazon-says-feds-are-harassing-jeff-bezos-ceo-andy-jassy-report/
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