Ddos 
Amazon recently issued a formal notice to AI startup Perplexity, demanding that its Comet browser immediately cease operating automated purchasing functions on Amazon’s e-commerce platform through AI-driven agents. The move sparked a sharp backlash from Perplexity, which denounced Amazon’s demand as an act of “bullying” and a broader threat to the freedom of internet users.
Amazon, however, contends that the Comet browser’s AI agent functionality violates its Terms of Service, specifically the clauses prohibiting “the use of robots or similar data-gathering tools” and “the downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of any third party.” The company argues that such behavior undermines the integrity of the shopping experience and introduces potential privacy risks.
In an official blog post, Amazon further asserted that third-party applications offering AI agent capabilities—such as Perplexity’s Comet—should operate transparently and respect the platform owner’s right to opt out of participation. The company claimed that Comet’s features clearly disrupted both the shopping and customer service experience.
Perplexity, in response, challenged the foundation of Amazon’s argument. The company emphasized that “user agents,” as the name implies, act as representatives of the user rather than as crawlers, scrapers, or bots, and thus should not be conflated with automated data-harvesting systems.
Perplexity maintained that Comet’s AI agent acts solely on behalf of the user and only with the user’s explicit consent, therefore not violating Amazon’s terms.
Reports indicate that disputes between Amazon and Perplexity have been ongoing. As early as November 2024, Perplexity had agreed to suspend the browser’s automated purchasing features but later re-enabled them, disguising Comet’s AI agent as a Chrome browser user to circumvent platform restrictions—until Amazon detected the activity and issued its cease-and-desist notice.
Earlier in August 2025, content delivery network provider Cloudflare also accused Perplexity of using bots disguised as Chrome browsers on macOS systems to access blocked websites. Similarly, Reddit filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that it scraped platform content without paid authorization.
This latest dispute underscores the looming battle for dominance in the era of AI-driven shopping. Amazon had only recently introduced its own shopping agent, “Buy for Me,” in April 2025. Now, faced with growing competition from Perplexity, the company appears determined to safeguard control over its e-commerce ecosystem.
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