Bezos destroyed crucial text messages, claims US regulator

JEFF BEZOS has been accused of deleting text messages that could have provided evidence in the US government’s anti-monopoly case against Amazon.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Mr Bezos and Amazon’s current chief executive, Andy Jassy, used auto-deleting text messages on the encrypted app Signal between 2019 and 2022. The FTC is suing Amazon, accusing it of illegally stifling competition to maintain a dominant position in online shopping.

Mr Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon chief in 2021 and became executive chairman, reportedly had his phone hacked by Saudi Arabia after receiving a WhatsApp message from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The hack, which has never been verified and was denied by the Saudi government, allegedly came in 2018, a year before the FTC started investigating Amazon. Signal, which is widely used by privacy-conscious smartphone users, has long had a feature that allows messages to automatically delete themselves after a set period of time.

The FTC asked a judge to force Amazon to reveal the advice it has given executives about using “ephemeral messaging applications, including Signal”.

It had previously alleged that Amazon staff had used Signal but did not name Mr Bezos or Mr Jassy. The agency said that Amazon did not tell executives to retain messages until more than a year after it was aware the FTC was investigating the company.

Amazon said: “The FTC’s contentions are baseless. Amazon voluntarily disclosed employees’ limited Signal use to the FTC years ago.”

Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon chief executive in 2021 and became executive chairman