(Updates with Amazon comment in the fifth paragraph.)
Walmart (WMT) and Amazon.com (AMZN) are allowing deceptive "Made in USA" claims to remain on their shopping platforms, according to a Columbia Law School report.
The 46-page report said both companies' AI shopping chatbots can detect mismatches between "Made in USA" labels and product details and can research whether origin claims are credible.
Despite these capabilities, the report said the companies do not consistently use them to flag or remove misleading claims.
"The concern is not only that a shopper can't trust a 'Made in USA' label but also that a shopper has no way to know whether they are seeing the platform's best answer or its most profitable one," the report said.
"The suggestion that we intentionally withhold country-of-origin information from customers is incorrect," and Amazon is working to improve Alexa for Shopping's ability to provide customers with this information more easily, the company said in an emailed statement to MT Newswires.
Walmart didn't reply to a request for comment.
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