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INVESTIGATING AMAZON: Sen. Josh Hawley
Joshua (Josh) David HawleyTrump announces intention to nominate two individuals to serve as FEC members Murkowski predicts Barrett won't overturn Roe v. Wade Infrastructure, energy investments urgently needed to create U.S. jobs MORE (R-Mo.) is calling on Attorney General William Barr
Bill BarrPolice accountability board concludes that Seattle police officers used excessive force during encounters with protesters Trump hasn't asked Barr to open investigation into Bidens, McEnany says Seattle, Portland, NYC sue Trump administration over threat to pull federal money MORE to launch a criminal antitrust investigation into Amazon over reports that it used data from third-party sellers on its platform to develop competing products.
“Abusing one’s position as a marketplace platform to create copycat products always is bad, but it is especially concerning now,” Hawley wrote in a Tuesday letter to Barr.
“Thousands of small businesses have been forced to suspend in-store retail and instead rely on Amazon because of shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic. Amazon’s reported data practices are an existential threat that may prevent these businesses from ever recovering.”
Justice Department spokesperson Alexei Woltornist confirmed to The Hill that the letter was received and is being reviewed.
Ongoing problems for Amazon: The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing interviews with 20 former employees of Amazon's private-label business and a review of documents, that the online retail giant used the information from other sellers to price items, determine which features to copy or whether to enter a product segment based on its earning potential.
Amazon has repeatedly said, including before a House Judiciary Committee hearing last year, that it does not use information from third-party sellers when it makes and sells its own products.
The company said in a statement that it "strictly prohibits" employees from using nonpublic information when developing other products.
“Like other retailers, we look at sales and store data to provide our customers with the best possible experience,” a spokesperson for Amazon told The Hill last week. “However, we strictly prohibit our employees from using nonpublic, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch.”
Amazon's private-label business, launched in 2007, includes more than 45 brands with roughly 243,000 products, including AmazonBasics and Stone & Beam furniture.
TEAMING UP AGAINST MERGERS: Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth WarrenWhat a Biden administration should look like Overnight Defense: Dems want hearing on DOD role on coronavirus vaccine | US and India sign data-sharing pact | American citizen kidnapped in Niger Conservative operatives Wohl, Burkman charged in Ohio over false robocalls MORE (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezOVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump strips protections for Tongass forest, opening it to logging | Interior 'propaganda' video and tweets may violate ethics laws, experts say | Democrats see Green New Deal yielding gains despite GOP attacks Ocasio-Cortez says she doesn't plan on 'staying in the House forever' Ocasio-Cortez: 'Trump is the racist visionary, but McConnell gets the job done' MORE (D-N.Y.) are set to introduce legislation that would put a moratorium on mergers involving large companies during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Pandemic Anti-Monopoly Act would freeze mergers that include companies that have more than $100 million in revenue, are run by hedge funds or private equity firms or that have exclusive patents impacted by the crisis, like key medical equipment.
Additionally, all mergers that must be reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under current law, which in 2020 is any valued over $94 million, would be frozen as well.
The moratorium would remain in place until the FTC determines small businesses, workers and consumers are no longer under severe financial distress from the pandemic.
The legislation would also direct the FTC to establish legal presumption against mergers that could harm the government's response to a national emergency, like the coronavirus.
"As we fight to save livelihoods and lives during the coronavirus pandemic, giant corporations and private equity vultures are just waiting for a chance to gobble up struggling small businesses and increase their power through predatory mergers," Warren said in a statement.
Ocasio-Cortez said the legislation "is desperately needed."
Read more about the bill here.
VOTING ONLINE: Delaware will allow voters with disabilities to cast their ballots online during the upcoming primary election next month, NPR reported Tuesday.
The move would make Delaware the second state to allow internet voting for those with disabilities, after West Virginia. New Jersey is also considering allowing some online voting for people with disabilities or those who live overseas, according to NPR.
A spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Elections did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the report.
Discussion around online voting has ramped up over the past month as in-person primary elections have been delayed or canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Mail-in voting has also been proposed by Democratic officials and voting rights advocates who argue that voters should not have to choose between their health and their right to vote.
Security concerns raised: Cybersecurity advocates have long cautioned against voting online, saying it would open up vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors to interfere in elections.
West Virginia used an app, Voatz, to allow military service members to vote during the midterm elections in 2018. A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the app as part of a study this year that would “allow different kinds of adversaries to alter, stop, or expose a user’s vote.”
West Virginia subsequently announced it would not use the app during the 2020 elections. The app was also used in 2018 in some municipal, state and federal elections in Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
Read more about the decision here.
PARENTS AREN’T HAPPY: Thousands of parents across the country are calling for Twitter to take additional steps to combat online trolls, citing concerns that individuals are using the platform to organize major disruptions of online classes taking place on the video conferencing service Zoom.
In a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spearheaded by the group ParentsTogether, nearly 9,000 parents pointed to the recent spread of disruptions known as "Zoombombings," which have interrupted or hijacked a number of online classes taking place on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As parents and Twitter users, we are deeply concerned that Twitter is now the epicenter of online trolls organizing racist, violent, and sexual attacks known as ‘Zoombombing,’” the parents wrote. “With so much of children’s education now moved online, we are asking you to stop putting our kids at risk and take immediate action to shut down the planning and spreading of this vile abuse.”
The parents asked that Twitter ban accounts that are meant to encourage these malicious interruptions, along with banning hashtags that enable disruptors to find passcodes for meetings, and implementing a “zero-tolerance policy” towards organizing these types of attacks on Twitter.
“We ask that you turn the immense power of Twitter from endangering children, to protecting them,” the parents wrote.
A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the letter.
The parents are not the first to bring up concerns around interruptions to classes.
DISTRUST GROWS: Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said on Tuesday that the distrust swirling over social media has become worse during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Social media is deeply distrusted right now because there's too much fake news," Edelman told Hill.TV. "People trust those who have credentials. ... Everybody wants to know specifics. They don't just want to get facts through social media."
Edelman added that while the pandemic has increased the popularity of mainstream news outlets, many are still viewed as partisan.
One pandemic-related topic that has garnered a lot of mistrust, Edelman explained, is the disbursement of the coronavirus relief Congress has passed.
Edelman said people can understand why some industries such as airlines need governmental aid but have pushed back against the idea of businesses that are still financially stable getting funding through the stimulus package.
"We have to be really careful on, just as in 2008 and 2009, government bailouts, and if we do, they should be merited and paid back, and there should be transparency as to how they're used," Edelman noted.
Lighter click: Early Oscar favorite
An op-ed to chew on: The public gets innovative during the coronavirus pandemic
NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:
Cyber-intel firms pitch governments on spy tools to trace coronavirus (Reuters / Joel Schectman, Christopher Bing, Jack Stubbs)
NSO employee abused phone hacking tech to target a love interest (Motherboard / Joseph Cox)
Facebook restructures its security teams as the company fights cyberattacks (The New York Times / Sheera Frankel and Mike Isaac)
CEO of surveillance firm Banjo once helped KKK leader shoot up a synagogue (OneZero / Matt Stroud)
A brief history of the gig (Logic Mag / Veena Dubal)
