US regulators are investigating whether ecommerce colossus Amazon used information from merchants using its platform to create its own products, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is asking for copies of emails and other communications by executives regarding how seller information was used by Amazon employees, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
Neither the SEC nor Amazon responded to a request for comment.
In a previous report, the newspaper cited former Amazon employees as saying the online retail titan used data of other sellers on its platform without their permission.
Amazon gathered information about sales trends by third parties at its website to develop private-label products, the Journal reported.
The House Judiciary Committee has been looking into Amazon’s practices since 2019, and has grilled founder Jeff Bezos and others on the topic during hearings.
In March, members of the committee called on US Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate whether the Seattle-based company broke the law.
They accused an Amazon executive of lying under oath by saying the company did not use any data from third-party vendors.
Amazon has denied the allegations, but failed to provide supporting documentation requested by elected officials, according to the commission.
