A federal court ruled on March 10, 2026, that Perplexity AI must immediately stop using its Comet web browser agent to make purchases on behalf of shoppers on Amazon marketplace. The injunction, granted at Amazon request, marks a significant legal development at the intersection of AI agents, consumer identity, and e-commerce fraud law.
What Happened
Amazon filed a lawsuit accusing Perplexity of committing computer fraud by deploying Comet to shop on Amazon without clearly disclosing that the activity was being performed by an AI agent rather than a human user. The core legal argument is that Perplexity Comet browser agent violated computer fraud statutes by accessing Amazon systems under false pretenses — presenting as an ordinary browser session when it was, in fact, an automated agent acting on behalf of a third party.
The court sided with Amazon in granting the preliminary injunction, ordering Perplexity to halt Comet activity on Amazon marketplace while the broader lawsuit proceeds. The case is the latest in a series of legal challenges that AI agent products have faced as they enter consumer commerce. Perplexity Computer, which launched in February 2026, uses Comet to execute multi-step agentic tasks including web shopping on behalf of users.
The ruling does not affect other Perplexity products or its search functionality, but it does temporarily remove one of the most visible use cases that the company had been promoting for its new agentic platform.
Why It Matters
The Amazon versus Perplexity case raises fundamental questions about how AI agents that act on behalf of users will be regulated in commercial environments. Marketplaces like Amazon have terms of service that govern automated access, and the question of whether an AI shopping agent is acting as the user or as a separate entity is not yet settled in law.
The outcome could affect the entire category of AI consumer agent products. If courts determine that AI agents must explicitly identify themselves when conducting transactions, it would require significant changes to how products like Perplexity Computer, and similar offerings from other companies, operate in commerce contexts. The case is expected to proceed to a full trial, with the preliminary injunction in place until a final ruling is reached.
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