Amazon wins court order to block Perplexity’s AI shopping agent
The Perplexity app in the Apple App Store on a smartphone was held on June 1, 2025 in Washington.
Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A federal judge temporarily blocks startup Perplexity from accessing AmazonHis site features the Comet AI crawler, according to court filings.
Amazon sued Perplexity in November, claiming the startup had taken steps to “hide” its AI agents so they could continue scraping the online retailer’s website without its approval. Perplexity called the lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in the Northern District of California, a “bullying tactic.”
Perplexity’s Comet allows shoppers to ask the assistant to find products on Amazon and make purchases.
Amazon presented “strong evidence” that Perplexity’s Comet browser accessed the website at the user’s instruction but “without permission” from the e-commerce giant, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney wrote in her ruling Monday.
Chesney said he presented “essentially undisputed evidence” that Amazon spent more than $5,000 responding to the problem; This includes that its employees worked “countless hours” to block Comet’s access to private customer vehicles and develop tools to prevent “future unauthorized access” of the vehicle.
“Given such evidence, the Court finds that Amazon’s claim demonstrates a reasonable likelihood of success on its merits,” Chesney wrote.
Amazon spokeswoman Maxine Tagay said the injunction was an important step to ensure a “trusted shopping experience” for its customers.
“We look forward to pursuing our case in court,” Tagay said.
In a statement to CNBC, Perplexity said it “will continue to fight for internet users’ right to choose the AI they want.”
Chesney’s decision includes a one-week stay to allow Perplexity to appeal the decision.
In its original complaint, Amazon wrote that Perplexity’s representatives pose security risks to customer data because they can “act within protected computer systems, including private customer accounts that require passwords.”
The company also said Perplexity’s representatives create challenges for the company’s advertising business because when AI systems generate ad traffic, impressions must be detected and filtered before advertisers can be billed.
“This requires changes to Amazon’s advertising systems, including developing new detection mechanisms to identify and exclude automated traffic,” Amazon wrote in its complaint. “These system adaptations are necessary to maintain contractual obligations with advertisers who pay only for legitimate human impressions.”
Amazon has widely locked out its shopping sites from AI agents, blocking dozens of agents, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and investing in homegrown tools like Rufus, a shopping assistant built into its website and app.
— CNBC’s Ashley Capoot contributed to this report.
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