Amazon was aware that third-party seller data was used by employees to boost its own sales, Politico reported based on an internal audit from 2015. The audit report had warned Amazon's senior leadership that thousands of employees in its workforce had unauthorised access to seller data and at least in one instance this was used to improve sales of Amazon's private labels, the report stated. This revelation comes at a time when antitrust regulators around the world are scrutinising Amazon's dual role as marketplace and seller. Last August, the United States House of Representations' Judiciary Sub-Committee on antitrust grilled the e-commerce giant over its treatment of third-party seller data. The committee cited multiple reports that alleged Amazon of misusing its position to build competing products, but the company did not concede the same. The closest it came was when Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos told the committee that although the company has a policy prohibiting employees from accessing third-party seller, he cannot guarantee that this policy has never been violated. The same month, the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), a trade union representing online sellers in the country, filed an antitrust suit against Amazon India for unfair trade practices. The Indian government is currently investigating the allegations. In November 2020, the European Commission made its strongest move against Amazon when it accused the company of “systematically relying on non-public business data” of sellers to its own advantage and launched an investigation into the company's practices in Germany and France. An Amazon spokesperson…
