US Treasury Secretary criticizes Amazon
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Amazon “destroyed the retail industry across the United States”.
In his opinion the attorney general should investigate the company alongside other tech giants in the sweeping antitrust review that the Justice Department announced on Tuesday, reports TheVerge.
Mnuchin said that “although there’s certain benefits to Amazon’s success, the company has really hurt small businesses in the process”.
The Justice Department announced that it would begin a review into whether major online platforms have “reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers.” While Amazon was not mentioned by name, the assumption is that the DOJ will be looking at it alongside other tech giants, like Facebook and Google, that also vastly dominate their fields.
Amazon responded to Mnuchin’s remarks with a comment saying that its platform helps small businesses and that physical stores still dominate retail sales. “Small and medium-sized businesses are thriving with Amazon,” a spokesperson said. They said that Amazon represents “less than 4 percent of US retail,” and that 90 percent of retail sales “still occur in brick-and-mortar stores according to the US Census Bureau.”
More Amazon news
Jeff Bezos took the controls of some huge robotic hands
Bezos Expects Robotic Hands To Be Ready Within 10 YearsJeff Bezos took control of a pair of giant remote-controlled robot hands at Amazon's re:MARS robotics conference in Las Vegas.The hands don't just mirror the movement of the person wearing the gloves —...
Amazon may soon face an antitrust probe
Here are 3 questions the FTC is asking about it The Federal Trade Commission has been questioning Amazon’s competitors about its Prime service and how it competes with its own marketplace sellers. Amazon and its fellow tech giants will soon find themselves the focus...
Amazon is working on a device that will read human emotions
Amazon brings sci-fi tech to life Amazon is developing a voice-activated wearable device that can recognize human emotional state, turning Sci-fi tech into reality The wrist-worn gadget is described as a health and wellness product in internal documents...
