Acquiring Roomba-maker iRobot will 'entrench Amazon's hold on the smart home technology ecosystem, eliminate competition in that sector, and enhance the company's monopoly power,' groups including fightfortheftr and Public_Citizen warn the FTC.
"The proposed deal poses a striking set of concerns related to consumer privacy and market competition," the letter states."Allowing Amazon to absorb a competing smart home device business with access to incredibly detailed consumer data would endanger fair competition and open markets while also jeopardizing consumer privacy."
Amazon seeks to follow a similar path in buying iRobot. By purchasing an already popular smart home device, they will be able to extend the device's prevalence through anti-competitive pricing while using personal consumer data to further entrench their monopoly power in the digital economy. By selling the Roomba brand at or near a loss via the Prime subscription, the company can access more personal consumer data to buttress its anti-competitive advantages online.
"Amazon uses data not only to further its anti-competitive goals as described in further detail above, but also to feed data-hungry algorithms that attempt to predict and shape the behavior of individual consumers," the letter explains."These algorithms, when paired with Amazon's worldwide impact, exacerbate racist and gender-biased systems of oppression."
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