E-commerce and tech giant Amazon alleges that the company is being unfairly targeted by a proposed U.S. antitrust bill. According to the Masters of the Universe, the bill “jeopardizes two of the things American consumers love most about Amazon: the vast selection and low prices made possible by opening our store to third-party selling partners, and the promise of fast, free shipping through Amazon Prime.�?
Reuters reports that Amazon is criticizing a bill in Congress that would prevent tech giants from giving preference to their own businesses on their platforms. Amazon alleges that the bill is unfairly targeting the company while failing to subject rivals to similar rules.
Jeff Bezos/Instagram
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) (Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)
The bill could be voted on in the Senate this month according to reports. The measure was passed b the Senate Judiciary Committee in January despite lobbying from tech executes such as Apple CEO Tim Cook. The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee in 2021.
In a recent blog post, the company claimed that the bill “jeopardizes two of the things American consumers love most about Amazon: the vast selection and low prices made possible by opening our store to third-party selling partners, and the promise of fast, free shipping through Amazon Prime.�?
The Seattle-based internet giant claims that the bill solely targets Amazon by requiring a market value of at least $550 billion to qualify to be regulated and that rivals such as Walmart, Target, and CVS were excluded. The company stated: “In 2021, Walmart had annual revenues of $559 billion, nearly $90 billion more than Amazon. But Walmart is excluded despite also being a large retailer that allows small businesses to sell in its online marketplace.�?
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who co-sponsored the bill, named the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, claim that the measure is aimed to protect small businesses. Amazon has argued that the bill could harm hundreds of thousands of small businesses selling on its websites and that the large fines for violations “would make it difficult to justify the risk of Amazon offering a marketplace in which selling partners can participate.�?
Amazon claims that the bill would mandate that “Amazon allow other logistics providers to fulfill Prime orders.�? The company argued that this could make it “potentially impossible in practice, for Amazon and our selling partners to offer products with Prime’s�? free two-day shipping.
Read more at Reuters here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address [email protected]
