My thought was that people reacting to the article are disappointed they didn't get an empty promise. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that

My thought was that people reacting to the article are disappointed they didn't get an empty promise. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon employees have accessed sales data from independent sellers on its marketplace to help the company develop competing products for its private-label. Amazon has a policy barring the practice, but lawmakers like Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) focused in on the company’s enforcement of that policy. “Let me ask you, Mr. Bezos, does Amazon ever access and use seller data when making business decisions?” Jayapal asked. Bezos highlighted the company’s policy banning the practice, but said, “I can’t guarantee you that that policy has never been violated.” He continued, “We continue to look into that very carefully. I’m not yet satisfied that we’ve gotten to the bottom of it, and we’re going to keep looking at it. It’s not as easy to do as you would think because some of the sources in the article are anonymous.” This seems reasonable. They have internal controls, but auditing of them is hard, and as he's under oath he can say they have the controls but ... proving a negative is hard. I understand why people predisposed to not trust Amazon, but in this case this is a reasonable answer being pulled out of context for a soundbite.