Amazon and Perplexity: who can shop for you?

October 18, 2026

Amazon seems to be the case that most clearly raises the question of who can shop on someone else's behalf. Yes. Amazon banned Perplexity's shopping feature and sued the company. Its position is that companies buying products on behalf of customers must act openly and respect each provider's decision about whether to

Amazon seems to be the case that most clearly raises the question of who can shop on someone else’s behalf. Yes. Amazon banned Perplexity’s shopping feature and sued the company. Its position is that companies buying products on behalf of customers must act openly and respect each provider’s decision about whether it wants to participate. How did Perplexity respond? It argued that its agent is an extension of the user. It also maintained that Amazon has an advertising interest: if an agent does the shopping, fewer people will be looking at ads on the platform. These are Perplexity’s arguments in an ongoing dispute, not established facts about Amazon’s motives. Have the courts already decided whether those agents can shop there? The procedural history does not allow us to consider the matter settled. A judge ordered Perplexity’s agents to stop shopping on Amazon; an appeals court overturned that order in August. Amazon then filed an amended complaint. The news report describes an ongoing conflict.

Full episode: https://youtu.be/C4y3qt-n0kU

🤖 AI-generated content: the script, voices, and images in this episode were produced using artificial intelligence tools.

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