A US federal judge has blocked Perplexity's AI shopping bot from accessing Amazon accounts after determining the startup violated computer fraud laws. U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney wrote that Amazon has provided "strong evidence" that Perplexity's Comet browser accessed its website at the user's direction, but "without authorization" from the e-commerce giant.
Amazon filed the lawsuit in November accusing Perplexity of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when Comet is shopping on a real person's behalf and refusing to stop when asked by Amazon. The startup was accused of attempting to "conceal" its AI agents by misrepresenting Comet as Google Chrome.
Perplexity's Comet allows shoppers to ask the assistant to find items on Amazon and make purchases. The distinction the judge drew is legally significant. Judge Chesney found that Comet accesses Amazon accounts "with the Amazon user's permission, but without authorization by Amazon." This separation between user consent and platform authorisation could have major implications for how AI agents interact with websites going forward.
Amazon said it warned Perplexity at least five times starting in November 2024 to stop the practice, implemented a technical barrier to block Comet's access in August 2025, and watched Perplexity release a software update within 24 hours to circumvent it. According to court documents, Amazon said it had to spend over $5,000 and devote many hours of work to develop tools aimed at blocking such access and protecting its private customer systems.
Chesney's ruling includes a weeklong stay to allow Perplexity to appeal the order. Perplexity has been ordered to stop accessing any password-protected areas of Amazon's systems and destroy its copies of Amazon's data while the two companies continue to argue their cases.
Two sides of a larger debate
Amazon framed the case as a matter of basic fairness. As the company noted, it thinks it is "fairly straightforward" that third-party applications offering to make purchases for customers from other businesses should respect businesses' decision about whether or not to participate, just as food delivery apps respect restaurant decisions and travel agencies respect airline policies.
Perplexity's defence rested on user autonomy. A Perplexity representative said the startup "will continue to fight for the right of internet users to choose whatever AI they want." In previous statements, the company called the lawsuit "a bully tactic" and argued that consumers should be free to use any AI assistant they choose to shop online. Perplexity also argued that an injunction would cost it "its first-mover advantage in the AI-assisted shopping space," along with market share, users, and the ability to iterate on Comet.
The judge was unswayed. Judge Chesney noted that even under the injunction, Comet would retain access to the entirety of the web outside Amazon's password-protected accounts.
A test case for AI agents
This ruling matters well beyond Perplexity and Amazon. OpenAI's ChatGPT launched checkout features earlier this year, while Google, Microsoft, and Shopify are all building or enabling agentic commerce tools. The court's reasoning creates a new legal framework: AI agents that access logged-in accounts could need permission from both the user and the platform owner, not the user alone.
Widespread adoption of those tools could disrupt the $350 billion digital advertising market in the US, in which retailers and brands pay for prominent placement in Google and Amazon search results as well as social media feeds, with Amazon generating advertising revenue of $68.6 billion in 2025. This reality gives all parties reason to watch how Perplexity's appeal plays out.