House Judiciary Committee wants to hear from Jeff Bezos

Lawmakers are increasing their pressure on Amazon. 

On Friday a congressional panel sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, requesting he testify on allegations that the retailer uses third-party seller data to influence the design and development of its private brand launches. The letter from the House Judiciary Committee repeatedly referenced the article run by the Wall Street Journal that investigated Amazon’s practices around third-party seller data and how it allegedly informs how it develops its private brands.

The committee wrote in the letter that if the allegations in the article are true, it contradicts previous testimony and written responses that Amazon submitted to the Committee. “For example, at our hearing on July 16, 2019, Representative Pramila Jayapal asked about Amazon’s use of third-party seller data, and Nate Sutton, Amazon’s Associate General Counsel, responded that “we do not use any seller data to compete with them,” the letter detailed.

Before this letter by the panel, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also sent a letter asking the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into Amazon’s practices.

The retailer did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Store Brands.