FTC accuses Amazon of using Signal’s automatic deletion messages to erase evidence

According to a court document seen by Engadget, the Federal Trade Commission accused Amazon of using Signal’s disappearing messages feature to hide communications as part of its antitrust lawsuit against the company. The FTC says the retailer continued to automatically delete his communications even after the agency informed him it was under investigation and asked him to keep them. Founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos and current CEO Andy Jassy are among those charged.

“For years, top Amazon executives, including founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos, have discussed[ed] sensitive business issues, including antitrust, regarding encrypted messaging app Signal instead of email,” the FTC wrote in the full document, technology/2024/04/26/amazon-ftc-messages-deleted-bezos/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:acquired by;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>acquired by (belonging to Bezos) The Washington Post. “These executives activated Signal’s “missing message” feature, which irrevocably destroys messages, even after Amazon was informed that plaintiffs were investigating its conduct. »

The FTC wants a federal judge to force Amazon to provide documents related to its data processing. The government agency says the retailer only disclosed its use of Signal in March 2022, before a Wall Street Journal article emphasizing the secret practice.

“Although the content of deleted messages is impossible to recover, the application indicates when a user activates, deactivates the disappearing messages function or changes the deletion timer, leaving a breadcrumb trail indicating that the deletions of the leaders of ‘Amazon were widespread,’ the document states. “Based on messages that were not removed, it appears that Amazon executives used Signal to discuss competitive business issues.”

The problem appears to be an increasingly common business practice in Silicon Valley. Last year, the DOJ accused Google of routinely destroying its internal chat histories, which it was required to preserve under federal law. Additionally, before Elon Musk bought Twitter and changed its name to .

Besides Bezos and Jassy, The Washington Post reports that the full document names general counsel David Zapolsky, former Worldwide Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke and former CEO of global operations Dave Clark as participants in the practice.