US Senator Warren seeks Amazon breakup after India rigging reports

US Senator Elizabeth Warren called for breaking up Amazon and Indian retailers demanded a government probe of the company after a Reuters investigation showed the e-commerce giant had copied products and rigged search results in India.

The Reuters report, reviewing thousands of internal Amazon documents, found that the US company ran a systematic campaign of creating knock-offs and manipulating search results to boost its own private brands in India, one of the company’s largest growth markets.

Wednesday’s report showed that, at least in India, manipulating search results to favour Amazon’s products, as well as copying other seller’s goods, were part of a formal strategy at Amazon and that at least two senior executives had reviewed it.