State investigators in California and Washington have been looking into whether Amazon abuses its power over sellers on the tech giant’s site, according to people involved with the inquiry.
In the last several months, California has asked about the company’s private label products and whether it uses data from sellers to determine which products it sells, according to two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution by the company.
The Washington attorney general’s office has also been interested in whether Amazon makes it harder for sellers to list their products on other websites, according to correspondence viewed by The New York Times.
The interest in Amazon’s lucrative marketplace is a signal that scrutiny of the company is widening, including criticism of the working conditions in its warehouses and accusations that it boxes out small business and competitors. Liberal politicians have singled out the company and its founder, Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest person in the world, as examples of out-of-control corporate power.
Full Content: New York Times
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