https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/26/24141801/ftc-amazon-antitrust-signal-ephemeral-messaging-evidence Skip to main content The Verge logo.The Verge homepage * The Verge homepageThe Verge logo./ * Tech/ * Reviews/ * Science/ * Entertainment/ * AI/ * MoreMenu The Verge logo. Menu * Amazon/ * Tech/ * Policy FTC says Amazon executives destroyed potential evidence by using apps like Signal FTC says Amazon executives destroyed potential evidence by using apps like Signal / Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, and other execs are accused of using the ephemeral messaging app for months after the feds notified Amazon of the antitrust investigation. By Richard Lawler, a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget. Apr 26, 2024, 10:59 PM UTC Share this story * * * Illustration showing Amazon's logo on a black, orange, and tan background, formed by outlines of the letter "A." Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge FTC lawyers submitted a filing on Thursday that claims Amazon's top execs used Signal's disappearing messages feature to destroy evidence relevant to the agency's massive antitrust lawsuit. (You remember the one? The FTC accused Amazon of creating a secret "Project Nessie" pricing algorithm that may have generated more than $1 billion in extra profits.) Now, The Washington Post (which is owned by Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos) reports that Amazon is just one of several companies recently accused of turning to encrypted messaging apps like Signal that can permanently erase messages automatically. Related * Amazon CEO Andy Jassy takes a dim view of antitrust enforcement You may recall the government making similar arguments about Sam Bankman-Fried's use of Signal during his trial for fraud and how that verdict eventually shook out. Deleted chats were also a sticking point for at least one juror in Google's recent courtroom loss to Epic Games and came up in the DOJ's antitrust trial against Google. This week's filing includes screenshots of a Signal chat between two Amazon executives who said, "Are you feeling encrypted?" and proceeded to turn on disappearing messages. Page from the FTC filing showing a screenshot of a conversation in the Signal mobile app where Amazon executives turned on disappearing messages.Page from the FTC filing showing a screenshot of a conversation in the Signal mobile app where Amazon executives turned on disappearing messages. Page from the FTC filing showing a screenshot of a conversation in the Signal mobile app where Amazon executives turned on disappearing messages.Page from the FTC filing showing a screenshot of a conversation in the Signal mobile app where Amazon executives turned on disappearing messages. 2:23-cv-01495-JHC Image: Federal Trade Commission et al v. Amazon.com Inc The FTC's lawyers say Bezos, current CEO Andy Jassy, general counsel David Zapolsky, former CEO of worldwide operations Dave Clark, and other execs are all Signal users. Bezos is identified in the document as "a heavy Signal user" who instructed others to use the app, although the 2018 hacking of his personal cellphone may be part of the reason for that. Related * US antitrust enforcement is coming back from the dead * How low prices could make for an antitrust case against Amazon And because Amazon didn't instruct employees to preserve messages sent in the app until more than 15 months after it was notified of the investigation, the FTC argues, "It is highly likely that relevant information has been destroyed as a result of Amazon's actions and inactions." The FTC lawyers are pursuing discovery into Amazon's efforts to preserve documents so they can figure out just how much information might be missing. Despite requests last fall for relevant documents about what advice Amazon gave to employees about ephemeral apps, the FTC claims that Amazon has so far refused to produce much of what was requested. If the judge finds that Amazon was negligent in failing to preserve data tied to the case, it could face sanctions, and things could get worse if the judge finds the failures were intentional. Most Popular Most Popular 1. I traded in my MacBook and now I'm a desktop convert ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. The walls of Apple's garden are tumbling down ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. BlizzCon 2024 has been canceled ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. How to delete the data Google has on you ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. 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