Bezos vs Bezos as Amazon sues Washington to stop paper investigation

Amazon, whose founder is Jeff Bezos, is heading to court to block The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, from acquiring key information in its investigation into the business.

The retail giant is suing Washington state to prevent public records from being released to the paper. It pertains to Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which is set to take on Elon Musk’s Starlink by launching “more than 3,000 satellites” into low orbit to provide “global broadband access”. It’s expected to begin launching in 2026.

The Washington Post – based in D.C. – is requesting information about the satellite facility, which was investigated by the US government’s Department of Labor and Industries four times between August and October 2024.

Amazon’s suit isn’t directed at The Washington Post, but to prevent certain information from reaching the paper. It’ll have to sue Washington state to prevent that, but the suit claims it doesn’t want to “prevent disclosure of all of the requested records”, but a “subset of records that contain trade secrets”.

This is similar to the case with the Seattle Times, which referred to in the suit. The paper was investigating worker complaints at a fulfillment center. Amazon sued Washington state in 2023 to curtail sensitive information making it to the paper, claiming that it contained customer information.

Bezos stepped down as the head of Amazon in 2021, becoming an executive chairman. He has since launched a rocket with Blue Origin. He bought The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million, with reports that since 2023 he’s been focused on it more.

While The Washington Post retains autonomy from Bezos in most cases, recent incidents show that the billionaire owner still pulls some strings. It’s unclear if the investigation will ever be published, as Bezos blocked a Kamala Harris endorsement in November.

The paper has also lost its cartoonist recently, as they prevented them from publishing a cartoon critical of Bezos donating money to President Trump.

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