The Federal Trade Commission alleges that Amazon executives used Signal’s disappearing-message feature to delete potentially relevant communications after the company had been told to preserve records. In a January 30, 2026 motion, the agency asked a federal court for sanctions, including an adverse inference. Amazon disputes the FTC’s account and argues that the agency has not shown the missing messages concerned the business practices at issue. The allegations are not a court finding that Amazon destroyed evidence or violated antitrust law.
What the FTC alleges about Signal
The FTC’s complaints say Amazon executives used Signal’s disappearing-message feature and that more than two years of communications—roughly June 2019 through early 2022—were deleted despite instructions to preserve potentially relevant records. The agency’s January 2026 motion renewed and expanded those allegations, naming former CEO Jeff Bezos and General Counsel David Zapolsky among executives it says used the feature. These are the FTC’s allegations, not established findings. FTC second amended complaint; FTC sanctions motion.
Three questions should not be collapsed into one: whether executives used Signal, whether messages disappeared after a preservation obligation arose, and whether the missing messages were relevant and irreplaceable evidence of the conduct challenged in the case. The FTC argues that the conduct warrants a remedy; Amazon contests the significance and relevance of the alleged loss.
How the dispute developed
- April 2019: The FTC’s 2026 motion says Bezos and Zapolsky began using disappearing messages around this time.
- June 17, 2019: The FTC says Amazon received notice of its online-retail investigation and instructions to preserve potentially relevant records. Amazon’s counsel later maintained that the company did not learn some custodians were using Signal until summer 2020.
- June 2019 to early 2022: The FTC’s amended complaint identifies this as the approximate period in which communications were deleted.
- March 10, 2022: Public reporting drew attention to executives’ Signal use; the FTC later said Amazon disclosed the use shortly beforehand. Associated Press coverage.
- September 2023: The FTC filed its online-retail antitrust case, later amended. FTC case page.
- January 30, 2026: The FTC filed its motion seeking sanctions over alleged spoliation, also raising allegations about employees deleting or shredding raw notes from relevant business meetings.
- March 3 and March 17, 2026: A February scheduling order set March 3 as Amazon’s opposition deadline and March 17 as the FTC’s reply deadline. Scheduling order.
Why disappearing messages raise a preservation issue
Signal’s disappearing-message setting can remove message content from participating devices after a selected period. The FTC’s motion says that once messages disappear, they may not be recoverable from those devices, even if limited information about a setting change remains. That is different from saying Signal is untraceable or that encryption itself proves anything was destroyed.
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The legal question is whether relevant electronically stored information should have been preserved once litigation or an investigation was reasonably anticipated, and whether reasonable steps were taken to preserve it. The FTC has said that business communications on Signal, Slack, Google Chat, and similar platforms can be subject to document requests and preservation obligations. FTC guidance on collaborative messaging platforms.
What the FTC asked the court to do
The FTC relied on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e), which addresses electronically stored information that should have been preserved but was lost. Its motion sought an adverse inference, additional discovery into the extent of the alleged loss, and an order requiring Amazon to pay for that additional discovery.
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An adverse inference would permit the court or fact-finder to infer that lost evidence would have been unfavorable to Amazon. It would not automatically decide the antitrust claims or award judgment to the FTC. The court would have to determine what evidence was lost and what remedy, if any, is justified.
What the court generally must assess under Rule 37(e)
- Whether the information should have been preserved because litigation was anticipated or underway.
- Whether it was lost because the party failed to take reasonable preservation steps.
- Whether it can be restored or replaced through additional discovery.
- Whether the opposing party was prejudiced by the loss.
- For the most serious measures, whether the party intended to deprive the opponent of the information’s use in litigation.
Amazon’s response centers on relevance and prejudice
Amazon said it voluntarily disclosed Signal use, collected conversations from employees’ phones, and allowed FTC personnel to inspect them. It argued that the FTC examined more than 2,900 screenshots but had not shown that the deleted messages addressed the specific practices challenged in the case. Amazon also disputed the FTC’s reliance on anonymous-source reporting about executives discussing “antitrust,” characterizing the agency’s theory as speculation about relevance and materiality rather than proof that the missing messages prejudiced its case. Amazon’s litigation response.
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The FTC’s motion says some surviving Signal messages concerned substantive antitrust topics, including an instance in which Andy Jassy received news coverage about antitrust enforcement. Amazon’s response is that such surviving material does not establish that deleted messages concerned the specific business conduct in suit. Discussing antitrust generally is not, by itself, proof of discussion about the pricing, seller, marketplace, or fulfillment practices alleged to be unlawful.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the Signal dispute relates to the antitrust case
The underlying lawsuit is about the FTC’s claims that Amazon’s online-retail practices harm shoppers, sellers, and competing retailers. The agency alleges, among other things, that Amazon’s conduct restricts rivals and sellers from lowering prices, overcharges sellers, degrades service or quality, and suppresses competition. Amazon disputes the antitrust claims. FTC case overview.
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The Signal allegations concern preservation and discovery within that lawsuit; they are not themselves the alleged antitrust violation. Even a finding that evidence was improperly lost would not by itself establish that Amazon’s retail practices violated antitrust law.
Procedural status as of August 18, 2026
The FTC has accused Amazon of spoliation and requested sanctions. The cited scheduling order set briefing deadlines in March 2026, but the available materials do not establish a final ruling on this separate spoliation motion by August 18, 2026. It would therefore be inaccurate to say that the court has found Amazon destroyed evidence or imposed an adverse inference in this dispute.
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What companies should take from the dispute
For businesses, work-related communications do not become exempt from preservation obligations because they happen in an encrypted app, on a personal phone, or through a feature that deletes messages automatically. A preservation program needs to account for where employees actually communicate, what the company knows about those channels, and whether potentially relevant material can be collected and retained when an investigation or lawsuit is reasonably anticipated. The legal outcome in Amazon’s case turns on its own record; the general compliance point is that the platform does not replace the preservation analysis.
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