A former employee of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has accused the company of violating UK sanctions by selling its facial recognition technology to Russia. The ex-employee, Charles Forrest, has alleged that Amazon continued to supply the technology to Russia even after the country's invasion of Ukraine.
What Happened: Forrest's claims were presented as part of evidence in a case he filed against Amazon Web Services for unfair dismissal, according to a Financial Times report. The case was heard at an employment tribunal in central London last week.
Forrest, who worked at Amazon for four years until 2023, alleged that the company dismissed him for "gross misconduct" after he refused to work his contractual hours and failed to attend or respond to meetings and emails, as per the tribunal filings.
Forrest claimed that he raised concerns about Amazon's alleged illegal supply of facial recognition technology to the Russian state security services after the UK imposed sanctions on Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Amazon has denied these allegations, stating that the claims lack merit and that it did not sell its Rekognition facial recognition technology to the Russian company VisionLabs. The case is ongoing.
Why It Matters: The allegations against Amazon come at a time when the UK and the U.S. have been imposing sanctions on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine. In April, the U.S. and the UK introduced new measures targeting Russia's commodity exports, including aluminum, copper, and nickel, to disrupt its revenue stream.
Meanwhile, Amazon has been making significant investments in its cloud infrastructure across the globe. In May, the company announced a $17 billion investment in Spain and a $9 billion investment in Singapore to meet the growing demand for cloud services and accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence.
Amazon's cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, has been a key driver of the company's growth. In its first-quarter results, the division's revenue beat estimates from analysts, with several analysts highlighting the AWS opportunity as a significant growth driver for the company.