Amazon Denies Using Secret Subsidiary to Spy on Competitors
Amazon refutes allegations of espionage through its subsidiary, Big River Services, asserting the operation was for benchmarking and improving third-party seller experiences.
- Amazon is accused of using a subsidiary named Big River Services to gather competitive intelligence from rivals like Walmart and eBay.
- The operation, initiated under 'Project Curiosity', allegedly involved employees taking screenshots of competitor's pricing and attending their conferences covertly.
- Amazon contends that the purpose of Big River was to understand third-party seller experiences on its platform, not to spy on competitors.
- Internal documents reviewed by Amazon reportedly show no misuse of competitive data obtained through Big River.
- Amazon emphasizes that benchmarking is a common industry practice and denies any wrongdoing in its operations.
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