Amazon was originally an American company. With its start in Jeff Bezos’ garage, it typified the genre of plucky American businesses challenging the status quo through hard work and exceptionalism. But, despite its origin and the benefits received through the American economy, which propelled it to become one of the largest and most profitable companies on Earth, Amazon seems keen on tarnishing its American roots.
Amazon’s anti-American practices reached a fever pitch in January 2021 when it nuked Parler, the Twitter rival platform, off of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure. This unprecedented move marked a turning point in the battle over digital free speech. Until then, most of the conflict was at the application layer of the internet; large social media platforms were responsible for restricting the reach of posts or disabling accounts. By removing Parler’s access to AWS for user behavior present on other social media sites, Amazon ignored American constitutional First Amendment principles and declared that only certain political viewpoints could use internet infrastructure that had previously been ubiquitously available.
The company was able to single-handedly destroy Parler because it controls a large portion of the cloud hosting industry. AWS makes up almost a third of the global cloud infrastructure market. Amazon controls both the information and commerce spaces. With its dominant position in the market, it exploited its workers, appropriated the business of third-party sellers, and punished those who didn’t fall completely in line with its arbitrary business practices. The company is the antithesis of the classical American small business that it displaced, in which workers are treated with respect and its customers, partners, and community are valued.
Amazon Is Enticing Chinese Sellers
Amazon is not pro-America, so it makes complete sense that it is working hard to entice Chinese sellers to its platform. A summit hosted by Amazon for Chinese merchants late last year was designed explicitly for this purpose. The company announced plans for an innovation center in Shenzhen, China’s “Silicon Valley,” and opened up its supply chain service to Chinese sellers. Chinese sellers outnumber their American counterparts and, in 2023, their sales rose 20 percent alongside a 30 percent increase in those with at least 10 million dollars in sales. To attract low-cost Chinese-based clothing sellers like Temu, Amazon recently lowered its commission to 5 percent from 17 percent for sub-$15.00 clothing. Instead of prioritizing American sellers and finding innovative ways to increase their business, the company is focused on winning over sellers selling cheap clothing destined for landfills.
Conducting business in and with China has national security implications. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influences every Chinese-based private company and, in an era of unrestricted warfare, it is not unlikely that the CCP will utilize its influence on American consumers to undermine its geopolitical rival. Why then would Amazon lean into this business model? More importantly, why has it actively collaborated with the CCP?
Amazon became pro-China when it should be pro-America. It imperiled digital free speech and destroyed small businesses and the values they stand for. It should be a beacon for American exceptionalism, instead, it seeks profit and power. American companies should not be allowed to undermine the country that provides them with benefits and privileges. Amazon’s — and Big Tech’s in general — untrammeled abuse of the American political and free market systems needs to be answered for.
Caleb Larson is a cybersecurity researcher, policy analyst with the Internet Accountability Project, Heritage Foundation alum, and contributor at The Federalist where he writes about cybersecurity-related issues facing the United States.