Amazon wants a product safety regulator declared unconstitutional

Amazon’s Challenge to the CPSC & Public Reaction

• Many comments frame Amazon’s move as “horrifically awful,” seeing it as prioritizing profit over consumer safety and emblematic of a wider slide toward oligarchic or even authoritarian tendencies.
• Some express generalized loss of trust in Amazon’s products and behavior and argue that large tech companies should be broken up.
• A few mention potential bias of the article source given ownership ties to Amazon’s founder, but still see the underlying facts as credible.

Is Amazon a Retailer, Platform, or Just a Shipper?

• Central dispute: Amazon claims it’s like UPS/FedEx for third‑party goods and shouldn’t have recall obligations.
• Critics note that “Fulfilled by Amazon” products are stored, shipped, refunded, and often branded as if sold by Amazon, so the company clearly has the data and operational control to support recalls.
• Comparison with Walmart and traditional retailers: those stores routinely handle refunds and recalls; commenters fear if Amazon wins, others will follow its deregulatory path.

Should Marketplaces Like eBay/Facebook Be Responsible?

• Some argue any platform that intermediates and holds buyer data should at least cooperate on recalls and labeling, especially for business sellers.
• Others stress the practical burden: generic, low‑info secondhand listings make product identification and recall matching very hard, even with modern AI, and added compliance could kill cheap secondhand markets or push items underground.
• There is disagreement over whether broad recall reach is a “must” or merely “nice to have.”

Value of the CPSC vs Private Oversight

• Several praise the CPSC’s work and communication, contrasting it with proposals to shift safety checks to private entities under “government oversight,” which critics link to failed self‑regulation in other industries (e.g., aerospace).
• One former Amazon engineer explains recalls are technically straightforward (delist, pull from warehouses, notify buyers); the real friction is cost and destruction of cheap, unsafe imports.

Law, Democracy, and Corporate Power

• Commenters compare Amazon’s desired liability shield to Section 230 debates, seeing a pattern of corporations seeking maximal protection with minimal responsibility.
• Extended subthreads discuss dysfunction in U.S. democracy, the dominance of corporate donors, Citizens United, and rising populism, arguing regulators are being gutted under an ideology that “government itself is irreparable.”

Amazon’s “Customer Obsession” vs Shareholder Primacy

• Some note an apparent conflict between Amazon’s public leadership principles and fighting safety regulation.
• Others counter that many customers mainly want low prices and fast shipping; as long as returns are easy, trust may not depend on robust safety oversight.
• Several point to Amazon’s treatment of warehouse workers and worsening product quality/search experience as consistent with a shareholder‑first, not consumer‑first, reality.