Amazon blocks AI shopping bots
Amazon secured a court order to block Perplexity’s AI shopping agent from accessing its platform, arguing agents bypass tracking and billing and undercut its business model. (youtube.com) The fight is being framed as a pivotal test over whether AI agents are treated as user extensions or as scrapers — a ruling here could reshape e‑commerce competition and ad revenue flows. (youtube.com)
Senior U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney issued the March 10, 2026 preliminary injunction that directed Perplexity to stop accessing password‑protected sections of Amazon accounts and to destroy copies of any Amazon data it had collected. (bloomberg.com) Amazon told the court that Perplexity had been masking its Comet browser to appear as a standard Chrome client and that the company received a cease‑and‑desist from Amazon on October 31, 2025 before the lawsuit was filed. (me.pcmag.com) Perplexity filed an emergency appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on March 13, 2026, and a two‑judge panel granted an administrative stay around March 16–17 that temporarily paused the district court’s order. (digitalcommerce360.com) In her written findings, Judge Chesney concluded Amazon had shown a likelihood of success on claims under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. (cyberscoop.com) Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas publicly pushed back against Amazon’s legal strategy, characterizing the company’s notices as “bullying” and saying Perplexity would defend users’ ability to choose AI tools. (livemint.com) The original complaint was filed in the Northern District of California on Nov. 4, 2025 as Amazon.com Services LLC v. Perplexity AI, Inc., docket 3:25‑cv‑09514, and the Ninth Circuit appeal is listed as case number 26‑1444 as the parties seek a longer stay. (courtlistener.com)
