US government warns of German Amazon platform

Several overseas websites of the online retail giant Amazon have been blacklisted by the Trump administration. Amazon Germany should now be listed among them.

• Amazon platforms would make fraud easier
• Amazon rejects allegations
• No direct impact on customers in Germany

As the Reuters news agency reported in early 2020, Amazon plans to forward data to the U.S. and European law enforcement agencies more frequently in the future when it comes to counterfeiting on its own sales platform. So far, Amazon has only given information to law enforcement officers if, according to the company, they were also sufficient for criminal prosecution, as Reuters further reported. But that doesn't seem to be enough for the American government.

Blacklisted online shops

The U.S. government, led by President Donald Trump , publishes a list of suspected dubious online stores once a year. In addition to the German Amazon platform, this website now also contains websites in France, Great Britain, India and Canada. This emerges from a report by the US trade regulator Notorious Market, which is available to the Reuters news agency.

The U.S. agency said that the platforms in question had made it easier to sell counterfeit and pirated products. Amazon, on the other hand, said the company hired thousands of employees and invested millions of dollars to protect customers from fraud, the report said.

Amazon sees political motivation

It is well known that US President Donald Trump and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are not friends. It was not until February 2020 that the two rivals faced legal proceedings. It was a major Pentagon order that Microsoft won . Amazon then accused Trump of urging the Pentagon to award the said order to rival Microsoft. Amazon filed a lawsuit in November and suffered a setback in April .

Amazon sees the listing as politically motivated. The online giant described the report as a "purely political act" and as an example of President Trump's government, "which the US government is using to advance its personal revenge against Amazon," Reuters writes.

It is clear that the inclusion in the black list has no consequences for Amazon customers in Germany for the time being.