The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has escalated its legal battle with Amazon, accusing the tech giant and its top executives of systematically destroying evidence relevant to the agency’s landmark antitrust lawsuit. In a court filing made public this week, the FTC alleges that Amazon employees, including founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy, used the encrypted messaging app Signal and its “disappearing messages” feature to erase internal communications for over two years, from June 2019 to at least early 2022.
The agency argues that this practice has resulted in the permanent loss of crucial information that could shed light on Amazon’s competitive strategies and business practices. According to the FTC, the deleted messages contain candid discussions that are “highly relevant” to its investigation into whether Amazon illegally monopolized the online retail and cloud computing markets. The filing claims that Amazon failed to take adequate steps to preserve these communications after it was formally notified of the antitrust probe.
In its motion, the FTC is asking a federal judge to sanction Amazon for the alleged spoliation of evidence. If the court rules in the FTC’s favor, potential penalties could range from monetary fines to an instruction to the jury to infer that the deleted evidence would have been unfavorable to Amazon, a move that could significantly weaken the company’s defense.
Amazon has publicly refuted the allegations, calling them “baseless.” A company spokesperson stated that Amazon has voluntarily disclosed its use of Signal, educated employees on their legal obligations to preserve records, and produced over 1.7 million documents for the investigation. This dispute highlights the growing conflict between the use of ephemeral messaging apps in the corporate world and the strict legal requirements for evidence preservation during government investigations.
English 
Deutsch