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The House Judiciary Committee is messy and I’m here for it. Companies the likes of Facebook, Google, and Amazon do a pretty good job of keeping their personal information personal. You might think they’d want to be more forthcoming with their intel — better-educated consumers make better purchases and spur innovation, all that jazz. The downside of that free market crap is that it makes it harder to capitalize on things like diapers.

Among the Amazon documents are records showing that at least as far back as 2009, Amazon sought to disadvantage rivals selling on its platform. In 2010, Amazon acquired Diapers.com, an acquisition scrutinized over allegations Amazon undercut the company on price in order to drive down the acquisition value. In a 2009 email from then Amazon marketing executive Steven Shure to Jeff Wilke and Doug Herrington, two of the company’s top people, Shure said they should restrict Diapers.com’s ability to advertise on Amazon.

“We are under no obligation to allow them to advertise on our site,” Shure wrote. “I’d argue we should block them from buying product ads immediately, or at minimum price those ads so they truly reflect the opportunity costs” of diaper sales not made by Amazon.

This is a small sampling of anticompetitive practices divulged in the report — child’s play even, but I have the suspicion that the 450-or-so-page dossier is rich with trails of anticompetitive behavior.

Heavily redacted internal Google documents appear to show, for example, how Google pressured mobile phone makers including Samsung to prioritize its own apps on their devices. In a January 2014 email about recent meetings in South Korea with Samsung and LG, a Google executive describes “grave concerns” about a new Samsung service “competing with our core search experience.” Yet Google appeared open to Samsung launching a “smart assistant” service in China, where Google’s offerings are not available.

The newly released material, which also include emails and other documents from Amazon and Meta-owned Facebook, arrives as pressure is building on Congress, and in particular Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to pass a bill that would block the internet giants from favoring their own products and services over those of competitors who rely on their platforms.

I sure do hope that it will be easier to convince Congress that antitrust violations are an issue than it is to get them to make the smallest attempt to root out terroristic threats in our police forces. Congress has bigger fish to fry than dealing with things like police officers telling white supremacists that they sympathize with them; anticompetitive behavior costs the average American family ~$5,000 a year. I hope Congress will pass some legislation that keeps prices in check. I heard through the grapevine that officers are having a hard time buying ethically sourced white sheets and hemp rope through Amazon because of inflation and their preferential advertisement of commodities. Blue Dollars Matter.

New Internal Documents Show Tech Giants Pushing Out Competitors [Politico]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

Amazon, Antitrust, Facebook, Google, House Judiciary Committee, Samsung

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