Amazon reportedly used data from third-party sellers to compete with them, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
These new findings contradict previous testimonies from Amazon, in which the company stated that it doesn’t use the data it collects from third-party sellers.
The report outlines that some Amazon executives were given privileged access to data and used it to find best-selling items that they would want to compete against, which is a direct violation of the company’s policies.
The executives had allegedly used workarounds to obtain the data. For instance, they would require analysts to create reports that were supposed to include aggregated data but only included information about one seller.
“While we don’t believe these claims are accurate, we take these allegations very seriously and have launched an internal investigation,” the company told CNBC in a statement.
Last July, Amazon testified in a U.S. court that it does not use seller data to benefit sales of its own products or in any other way that would allow it to unfairly compete with merchants.
Amazon has been previously accused of aggressively promoting its own brands on its website. For instance, some third-party listings included links to its own products.
These latest allegations will likely add to the concern that regulators already have about the online retailer’s dominance, and the company could face penalties if they are proven to be accurate.
Source: Wall Street Journal, CNBC
