Ask HN: Has Amazon ever used AWS to pressure potential competitors?
I have heard people suggest that relying on AWS could be a risky move for potential Amazon.com (e-commerce) competitors. The rationale seems to be that if Amazon wanted to, they could refuse AWS discounts or be less willing to support and cooperate if they deem someone to be a competitor. Some have even suggested that Amazon could access one&#x27;s business-critical data on the back-end without having to disclose the access if they chose to, and so gain a competitive advantage.<p>The logic further goes that in order to avoid ending up in this hypothetical situation, one should not make use of AWS products and features which could be viewed as &quot;vendor lock-in&quot; and design one&#x27;s systems to be &quot;cloud agnostic&quot;. Or just avoid using AWS altogether.<p>My position has been that it is irrational to think that Amazon would a) even think of me as a competitor and b) put AWS&#x27; reputation at risk by employing shady tactics to sabotage my business. And that preparing for this (imaginary?) scenario would lead to missing out on or making ineffective use of AWS&#x27; (arguably best in class) cloud products. Or taking on significantly more complexity in order to be &quot;multi-cloud&quot;. In other words, choosing to perform more &quot;undifferentiated heavy lifting&quot; on the basis of what seems to me like an irrational fear of being locked-in and taken advantage of by Amazon.<p>My question is: are there any documented cases of Amazon taking advantage of competitors via AWS in this manner? Does anyone here have (anecdotal) experience with such a situation that they&#x27;d be willing to share?