Topline
Amazon has sent a cease-and-desist letter accusing Perplexity AI of using its Comet browser agent to make purchases on Amazon without authorization, prompting Perplexity to fire back with a public statement alleging bullying and intimidation from the e-commerce juggernaut.
CHONGQING, CHINA – DECEMBER 29: In this photo illustration, a person holds a smartphone displaying the logo of “Perplexity,” an AI-powered search and question-answering application, with the Perplexity logo visible in the background, showcasing the evolution of AI in information retrieval and user assistance, on December 29, 2024 in Chongqing, China. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a cornerstone of China’s strategic ambitions, with the government aiming to establish the country as a global leader in AI by 2030. (Photo illustration by Cheng Xin/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Amazon accused Perplexity of committing computer fraud for allowing its Comet AI browser agent to allegedly make purchases without Amazon’s authorization, violating Amazon’s ban on robots or similar data gathering tools from scraping its site.
Amazon asked Perplexity in November 2024 to halt its automated shopping capability— the startup temporarily complied, but by August 2025 the company had reactivated Comet in a version that Amazon says bypassed its security measures, prompting Amazon’s latest warning, according to Bloomberg.
Perplexity called Amazon’s move “bullying,” arguing AI agents are user-controlled assistants, not crawlers or bots.
The company statement also took aim at Amazon’s $56.2 billion annual advertising business, arguing the company’s crackdown is driven by a desire to protect its ad revenue.
It further claimed Amazon wants to preserve control over sponsored listings, upsells and how consumers make purchasing decisions.
Key Background
In 2024, Forbes reported that Perplexity’s “Pages” featured republished original content from news outlets—including Forbes, CNBC and Bloomberg with minimal attribution, in some cases lifting texts and graphics nearly verbatim. Perplexity’s Srinivas acknowledged “rough edges” in an X post and promised improvements. In August 2025, the company faced renewed criticism when web infrastructure security service provider Cloudflare reported stealth crawling by Perplexity, saying the company’s bots disguised themselves as Chrome browsers, rotated Internet Protocol addresses and ignored robots.txt directives—the standard web file that tells automated crawlers which pages they are not allowed to access. Cloudflare said Perplexity continued to retrieve restricted content even after being blocked, prompting it to remove the company as a verified bot. In October, Reddit sued Perplexity and three partner firms for alleged industrial-scale scraping of user conversations, alleging the company bypassed anti-scraping safeguards instead of negotiating a data-access deal, ABC News reported.
Crucial Quote
“We would be happy to work together with Amazon to figure out a win-win outcome for both us and them. But attempts to block our Comet Assistant on Amazon and hurt our users — we will have to stand up for them and not get bullied by Amazon,” said Srinivas in an X post on Tuesday.
Tangent
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, worth an estimated $258.8 billion, invested in Perplexity’s Series B round in January 2024 through his Bezos Expeditions venture fund.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinacastellanos/2025/11/04/amazon-targets-perplexitys-ai-agent-startup-fires-back-says-bullying-is-not-innovation/
