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Amazon did demand that Perplexity stop its Comet browser’s AI agents from shopping on Amazon, but the dispute was about more than automated purchases. Amazon alleged that Comet concealed its identity, accessed password-protected accounts after Amazon objected, and evaded technical restrictions. A district court temporarily blocked the activity in March 2026; Bloomberg Law reported that the Ninth Circuit overturned that preliminary injunction in August. The lawsuit’s broader questions remain: does a user’s permission authorize an outside agent to access a retailer’s systems, and who controls an AI agent operating through a shopper’s account?
What Amazon asked Perplexity to stop
In a cease-and-desist letter dated October 31, 2025, Amazon demanded that Perplexity stop using Comet’s AI agents to access Amazon in ways Amazon described as covert and unauthorized. Its demands included stopping the alleged disguise of Comet as Google Chrome, identifying the AI agent when it operated in Amazon’s store, and respecting Amazon’s decisions about whether and how agents could access the site and customer accounts.
Amazon’s public position was that Comet could make purchases on customers’ behalf and was producing what it called a “significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience.” The company said it had repeatedly asked Perplexity to remove Amazon from Comet’s experience. Those are Amazon’s characterizations, not findings that Perplexity committed a crime or that customer data was breached.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsSo the headline version—Amazon objected to an AI browser shopping for users—leaves out the core dispute. Amazon’s allegations focused on the agent’s identity, access to protected areas, technical restrictions, and the effects of its activity, not simply on whether software could help someone buy a product.
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What Comet does—and what “automatic” means here
Comet is Perplexity’s AI-powered browser. An ordinary chatbot may recommend a product or explain its features; an agentic browser can use a website: navigate pages, click controls, fill forms, work through an account, and carry out actions in response to a user’s instructions. Depending on the task and configuration, those actions may include shopping steps or completing a transaction.
That does not mean Comet was necessarily buying arbitrary items without the user’s direction. The dispute concerned an agent acting on a user’s behalf, with the degree of autonomy and confirmation depending on the task. Amazon described Comet as capable of making purchases; Perplexity argued that the agent was acting at the user’s direction. It is more accurate to say Comet could perform shopping actions for users than to imply that it independently chose and bought products without authorization.
Two kinds of permission are at issue
Perplexity’s argument, as reported by TechCrunch, was that Comet acted for the user and should have the permissions that user had. Amazon’s position was that a customer’s instruction does not, by itself, settle whether a third-party agent may access Amazon’s systems in the way it chooses.
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- Account-holder permission: The shopper authorizes an agent to perform a task using their account.
- Platform permission: The retailer sets rules for software accessing its site, protected account areas, data, and transaction flows.
The question is whether user authorization is enough when a platform has expressly objected, especially if an agent allegedly conceals its identity or gets around a technical barrier. The answer is not simply “the user logged in, so anything goes” or “the site’s terms decide every legal question.” Contract terms, notice, technical access, the agent’s conduct, and applicable law can raise distinct issues.
Amazon’s legal claims are allegations, not a final judgment
Amazon’s letter cited the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, California Penal Code § 502. Its complaint alleged unauthorized access, circumvention of technical restrictions, and use of customer accounts and protected computer systems.
Those allegations should not be reported as established computer fraud. The legal question is complicated by the fact that modern agents can act through a user-controlled browser session, while statutes such as the CFAA predate today’s AI assistants. A platform’s terms may be relevant evidence, but a contractual restriction does not automatically resolve whether a particular access violates a computer-access law.
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Amazon’s complaint also alleged that Comet’s activity could expose customer information such as account details, shopping history, billing information, and other personal or financial data. That describes a potential risk asserted by Amazon; the available sources do not establish a confirmed mass customer-data breach.
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How the case changed over time
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| November 19, 2024 | Amazon says it first asked Perplexity to stop certain undisclosed agent activity. |
| August 4, 2025 | Amazon says it renewed its request to stop. |
| August 19, 2025 | Amazon says it introduced a technical barrier to restrict Comet’s agentic access. |
| September 12 and 29, 2025 | Amazon says it made further requests. |
| October 31, 2025 | Amazon sends its formal cease-and-desist letter. |
| November 4, 2025 | Amazon makes a public statement and files suit; Perplexity responds publicly. |
| March 9, 2026 | A Northern District of California judge grants Amazon a preliminary injunction. |
| March 11, 2026 | Perplexity appeals to the Ninth Circuit, case No. 26-1444. |
| August 4, 2026 | Bloomberg Law reports that the Ninth Circuit overturned the preliminary injunction. |
The earlier events and requests are described in Amazon’s complaint, so they should be attributed to Amazon. The March district-court order was preliminary: at that stage, the judge found Amazon had shown a likelihood of success and potential irreparable harm concerning alleged access to password-protected systems. It was not a final ruling after trial.
According to Bloomberg Law’s August 4 report, the Ninth Circuit overturned the injunction, reasoning that Perplexity’s tool did not itself access Amazon computers in the legally relevant sense; rather, users accessed Amazon with help from the agent. The cited report is the basis for this account of the appellate development; it should not be treated as a resolution of every issue in the case.
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The reported reversal does not establish that all AI agents may access any website, invalidate Amazon’s terms, or decide all questions involving privacy, contracts, security, or competition. It concerns the preliminary injunction and the record and legal standard at that stage. The district-court docket and the Ninth Circuit appeal docket are the places to check for later case developments.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Amazon does not reject AI-assisted shopping outright
Amazon is also building its own agentic shopping features. Its shopping assistant—renamed Alexa for Shopping from Rufus in May 2026, according to Amazon—can answer product questions, compare products, make recommendations, and help with carts and purchases. Amazon’s Buy for Me feature lets users purchase selected products from outside brand websites through an Amazon-controlled flow. Amazon said in a 2026 update that Buy for Me had grown from about 65,000 products at launch to more than half a million.
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Amazon’s own tools also differ from Comet. A retailer-native assistant is integrated with that retailer’s catalog, account, checkout, fulfillment, and customer-service systems. It may work better for shopping within that ecosystem, but it is not a neutral assistant across competing stores. Availability of Buy for Me can also vary by product, merchant, account, or rollout; it should not be assumed to cover every outside retailer.
What shoppers should consider before delegating a purchase
When an agent operates in a logged-in shopping account, the risk is not just that it might choose the wrong product. Depending on what it can access, it may encounter order history, saved addresses, payment options, and preferences. It could misunderstand size, quantity, seller, shipping speed, or subscription terms; follow misleading prompts on a webpage; or act on malicious instructions embedded in page content. These are practical risks of delegated browsing, not claims that every such failure occurred in this dispute.
- Check confirmation controls: Does the agent ask before adding items to a cart or submitting an order? Review the final item, seller, quantity, price, delivery speed, and any recurring terms yourself.
- Limit account exposure: Understand which account information the agent can see, whether its history is retained, and how to revoke access. Do not assume an agent’s access is limited to the single product task.
- Know who handles mistakes: Before delegating checkout, understand how returns, refunds, disputed charges, and customer-service issues work if the retailer blocks or does not support the agent.
- Expect compatibility to change: A retailer may restrict a third-party tool, and an agent’s ability to browse a site can change with technical controls or legal developments.
For retailers and AI vendors, the unresolved operational challenge is how to make agent access legible and governable. Official retailer or commerce APIs can be more transparent and controllable than browser automation, but depend on retailer cooperation and may offer fewer functions. Retailer-native assistants are integrated but ecosystem-specific. Browser agents are more flexible across sites, yet harder to identify, secure, support, and audit. Machine-readable permissions—specifying allowed actions, data access, and required confirmations—could offer a compromise, though this dispute does not establish a standard for them.
Current status
As of August 18, 2026: Amazon’s October 2025 demand began a dispute over Comet’s access and conduct. A district court issued a preliminary injunction in March 2026, but Bloomberg Law reported that the Ninth Circuit overturned it on August 4. The broader lawsuit was not reported in the cited materials as finally resolved. The result is not a permanent ban on Comet, nor a blanket legal green light for AI shopping agents.
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