The FTC accuses Amazon executives:
In a recent development concerning the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing antitrust litigation against Amazon, FTC attorneys have lodged a submission alleging that top executives at the technology behemoth utilized Signal’s vanishing messages feature to eradicate pertinent evidence. The FTC’s litigation, which centers on Amazon’s purported development of a covert pricing algorithm dubbed “Project Nessie,” potentially yielding over $1 billion in additional profits, has attracted considerable attention.
As per a report by The Washington Post, under the ownership of Amazon’s founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos, Amazon is merely one among several companies accused of resorting to encrypted messaging platforms such as Signal, capable of automatically erasing messages permanently. This utilization of encrypted messaging applications has drawn comparisons to prior legal skirmishes, including the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried for fraud, and Google’s courtroom loss against Epic Games, where erased chats emerged as contentious points.
The latest submission by the FTC incorporates screenshots illustrating a Signal exchange between two Amazon executives, wherein they exchanged messages such as, “Are you feeling encrypted?” before initiating vanishing messages. Notably, the submission identifies Bezos, current CEO Andy Jassy, general counsel David Zapolsky, former CEO of worldwide operations Dave Clark, and other executives as Signal users. Bezos, characterized as a “heavy Signal user” in the document, purportedly urged others to adopt the application, potentially influenced by the 2018 hacking incident involving his personal cellphone.
The FTC asserts that Amazon’s failure to instruct employees to preserve messages transmitted via the application until over 15 months after being notified of the investigation suggests the probable destruction of relevant information. The FTC attorneys are presently seeking discovery into Amazon’s preservation endeavors to evaluate the extent of potential data loss. Despite prior requests for documents regarding Amazon’s guidance to employees concerning ephemeral applications, the FTC alleges that Amazon has largely withheld requested materials.
Should the court determine Amazon negligent in its failure to retain data relevant to the case, the company could face sanctions. Furthermore, if the court discerns these failures as deliberate, the repercussions for Amazon could escalate significantlyThe FTC accuses Amazon executives .-DigitalDews
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