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A Bloomberg investigation is pulling back the curtain on a shadow bribery market operating inside Amazon's seller ecosystem. According to the report, third-party sellers have been paying Amazon employees for insider access — manipulating search rankings, reinstating banned accounts, and gaining competitive advantages that undermine the platform's integrity entirely.
That story connects to a broader question about who actually controls the digital spaces we depend on. Speaking of control, Grand Theft Auto six is making a quietly significant move — Rockstar's blockbuster release will ship physical copies containing nothing but a download code. No disc inside the box. It's a signal that the era of ownable media is effectively over, even for the games industry's biggest titles.
And rounding out today's stories, a piece resurfaces from two thousand eighteen that still carries real weight — a Politico report on what happens when Bitcoin miners descend on a small town. The answer involves strained power grids, rising electricity bills for residents, and communities left holding costs they never agreed to bear while profits flow elsewhere.
Three stories, one thread: power, access, and who pays the price. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.
