Amazon and TikTok are under public pressure to send senior representatives to a House of Commons hearing on online marketplace safety next Tuesday, 3 November 2026. Liam Byrne, chair of the Commons Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, wrote to both companies on Tuesday 27 October, raising concern about what he called their reluctance to appear. City AM has reported the move as the two firms being accused of dodging parliamentary scrutiny over online shopping safety.
The row lands on the morning of the Budget, five weeks before Black Friday, and at the point where ministers are deciding how hard to regulate the marketplaces that now sit between British shoppers and hundreds of thousands of overseas sellers. This article sets out what the letters say, what the committee has already heard, what Amazon, eBay and Temu told MPs in June, and what any of it changes for people buying online in the UK this winter.
In short
- Letters sent 27 October: Liam Byrne wrote to Amazon’s UK director of public policy, Monica Ariño, and TikTok’s director of public policy for Northern Europe, Alistair Law, asking each to provide a witness.
- Hearing on 3 November: the session will cover consumer protection, the regulation of online marketplaces and the sale of products on them.
- Sharp wording: Byrne wrote that disregarding parliamentary oversight “reflects badly” on the companies and “hampers the committee’s ability” to check whether protections are fit for purpose.
- Evidence already on record: Which? told MPs in June it found about 800 recalled or near-identical products across major marketplaces; Electrical Safety First estimated roughly one in 18 scanned listings was likely non-compliant.
- Law still pending: a proposed duty of care for online marketplaces under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 has been consulted on but is not yet in force, so shoppers’ rights still depend on who the seller is.
What exactly did MPs ask Amazon and TikTok to do?
According to Business Matters, which first reported the letters late on 27 October, Byrne asked each company to “make a representative available” for the 3 November session. He described the hearing as one that will consider “important and timely consumer protection matters relating to the regulation of online marketplaces, and the sale of products within them.”
The two letters are worded identically apart from the recipient and the company name, Business Matters reports. They went to Monica Ariño, Amazon’s UK director of public policy, and to Alistair Law, TikTok’s director of public policy for Northern Europe. Neither letter names a specific executive the committee wants to hear from, and neither sets out the questions MPs intend to ask.
The language Byrne used
The tone is unusually direct for a committee invitation. City AM quotes Byrne as writing: “Disregard of parliamentary oversight reflects badly on your company’s willingness to engage with policymakers, and hampers the committee’s ability to ensure regulation and protections are fit for purpose.” He added, according to the same report, that “these protections are essential safeguards for the customers from whom you draw revenue.”
Business Matters quotes a further line: “You will appreciate the major role you play in this market, and the vital importance of parliamentary scrutiny of matters concerning the safety and financial interests of UK citizens.” City AM’s headline framed the letters as an accusation that both firms were dodging scrutiny.
What the letters do not say
Neither published account says that Amazon or TikTok has formally refused to attend. Business Matters notes that the letters do not state whether either company declined the invitation, or what reasons, if any, were given. The phrase used by both outlets is “reluctance”, which suggests informal discussions with the committee clerks had not produced a named witness by 27 October.
That matters for readers. As things stand, this is a public warning shot, not a confirmed boycott. Either company could still put forward a witness before Tuesday, and the committee has given them roughly a week to do so.
Who is the committee and why does it have a say over online shopping?
The committee chaired by Liam Byrne was known as the Business and Trade Committee when it opened its consumer protection work, Business Matters notes, and now appears as the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee. It is a cross-party select committee of the House of Commons. Its role is to scrutinise government departments and the sectors they oversee, take evidence in public and publish recommendations that the government must formally answer.
Its inquiry into consumer protection (published under the reference HC 130) has been running through 2026. In June, it took evidence from consumer groups and from three marketplaces. The 3 November session is the next stage, and the committee’s interest is clearly in the platforms that dominate British online shopping but have not yet answered questions in public.
Can a committee force a company to appear?
Select committees have formal powers to send for persons, papers and records, and in principle a refusal to attend can be reported to the House as a possible contempt. In practice, the Commons’ ability to punish a private individual or company for refusing is limited and rarely tested; past cases have ended in formal findings and public criticism rather than penalties. The real leverage is reputational and political, especially when the same MPs are shaping recommendations on new marketplace law.
For Amazon and TikTok, that leverage is not trivial. Both companies are lobbying on secondary legislation that could change their legal duties in the UK, and both rely on government decisions on tax, delivery and data. Declining to appear while competitors have already given evidence would be noticed by the officials drafting those rules.
What did the committee hear about unsafe products in June?
On 23 June 2026 the committee held two panels on consumer protection. According to the published transcript, the first panel brought together Sue Davies, head of consumer rights policy at Which?, Wayne Mackay, director of policy and public affairs at Electrical Safety First, and David MacKenzie, chair of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. Their evidence frames what MPs are likely to put to Amazon and TikTok next week.
Which? found 800 recalled-lookalike listings
Davies told MPs that Which? had built a tool using Google Lens to search marketplaces for products already subject to official recalls. It found around 800 products that were identical or appeared almost identical to recalled items, across Amazon, Temu, eBay, AliExpress and TikTok Shop, she said. Which? then carried out further tests to check whether the safety fault still existed.
She also described Which? staff posing as sellers: “we got a heater that had been recalled and set up a fake account. We listed it on Amazon, eBay, and TikTok.” Davies listed recent test failures including phone chargers that were a fire risk, ladders, carcinogenic balloons and sand toys linked to asbestos concerns. Which? has since stepped up its campaign; we covered its latest sweep in our report on unsafe products still on Amazon and eBay and the new UK law Which? wants.
Electrical Safety First: one in 18 listings likely non-compliant
Mackay told the committee that his charity had used a machine learning model to scan more than 24,000 listings at random, and found that roughly one in 18 products was likely to be non-compliant. He said the charity had also set up fake businesses on marketplaces with names that should have raised flags, giving “Dodgy Electrics” and “Passed Vetting” as examples, and that they got through.
He was blunt about the direction of travel. Asked whether the problem was getting better or worse, Mackay said: “In our opinion, it is worse.” He singled out e-bike batteries, saying a battery on the government’s own unsafe products list had been found on a marketplace and was only removed after the charity went through the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).
Trading standards: £5bn of harm from marketplace goods
Byrne put it to MacKenzie that consumer detriment in the UK totals some £71bn a year, with about £5bn flowing from goods bought through online marketplaces. MacKenzie replied that the problems were “genuinely across the board”. He told MPs that the number of trading standards staff in Great Britain had fallen from 4,260 in 2002 to 2,378 last year, “virtually cut in two”.
Davies added a detail that drew a sharp reaction from the chair. Under the primary authority scheme, a business can choose which council advises it on compliance. “Amazon is policed by the combined forces of Hertfordshire county council,” Byrne remarked during the exchange, with Davies agreeing that this is the case for many multinationals.
What did Amazon, eBay and Temu tell MPs?
The second June panel featured Dr Thomas Bell, Amazon’s UK lead for product safety external relations, Leonard Klenner of Temu’s corporate affairs team, and Wolfgang Weber, associate general counsel for regulatory and criminal investigations at eBay. TikTok was not on the panel. The transcript gives a useful baseline for what the companies claim they already do.
| Platform | Scale claimed to MPs (June 2026) | Safety controls described | Pressure point raised by MPs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Over 250 million products on the UK store; about 100,000 UK small and medium sellers | Seller verification for 100% of third-party sellers; half a million bad actors blocked last year; compliance documents for high-risk categories; around USD 1 billion a year globally on safety and abuse prevention (about GBP 751 million at current rates) | A fake “energy saving” plug device bought by an MP the day before; no UK safety spending figure |
| eBay | More than 2.5 billion live listings worldwide | Monitors roughly 80,000 known unsafe products from regulator databases; 21 million potentially unsafe listings blocked last year; 244 million prohibited listings blocked a year | An MP found nine listings matching a recalled 500-watt heater and bought four |
| Temu | Hundreds of thousands of active listings for UK shoppers, over 100,000 traders | Onboarding checks, warehouse inspections and laboratory tests; over 4,000 content moderators; seller blacklist | A recent EU fine of EUR 200 million (about GBP 167 million) under the Digital Services Act |
| TikTok Shop | More than 200,000 UK-based sellers (figure given in October 2025) | Not on the record before this committee | Invited to 3 November; Byrne’s letter raises concern about reluctance to attend |
Currency conversions use the rate of roughly USD 1 to GBP 0.751 and EUR 1 to GBP 0.837 on 28 October 2026.
Amazon’s line: “no system is perfect”
When Joshua Reynolds MP showed Bell a power-saving plug device that Which? had exposed as fake in 2025, and said he had bought the same item on Amazon the day before, Bell replied: “No system is perfect: we understand that, but it does not mean that we do not keep learning and improving our systems.” He asked for the listings to be sent to him for immediate investigation.
Bell also set out Amazon’s legal position. For its own retail sales Amazon is the retailer and carries full liability, he said, but for third-party listings “we are neither the manufacturer nor the importer, so we do not fall within that legal category.” That distinction is at the heart of the reform debate, and it is exactly what MPs are likely to probe again on 3 November.
Reviews and the Vine programme
Sarah Edwards MP cited a Competition and Markets Authority estimate that £23bn of consumer spending is influenced by online reviews, and asked Bell about Amazon Vine, the scheme in which sellers pay to send free products to selected reviewers. She told the committee it costs a seller £140 to send between 11 and 30 items. Bell said he was not aware of the details and would write to the committee. For background on how the scheme works for sellers, see our explainer on what Amazon Vine costs and when early reviews actually work.
Why are Amazon and TikTok the two companies in the spotlight?
Amazon is the largest online retailer in Britain and runs both a first-party store and a marketplace on the same pages. Shoppers often cannot tell which they are buying from. Amazon said in 2021 that around 60 per cent of physical product sales on its UK store came from independent sellers, most of them small and medium-sized UK businesses, according to figures cited by Business Matters.
TikTok Shop has become a significant route into British baskets, mixing entertainment with checkout. More than 200,000 UK-based sellers trade on the platform, according to figures given in October 2025 when Royal Mail became its primary UK delivery partner. Products are sold through live streams and short videos, often by creators rather than the seller itself, which complicates who is responsible when something goes wrong.
The social commerce risk MPs already flagged
In June, Byrne pointed to “this new phenomenon where you have integration between influencers on social media. It is just one click into a shop where you can buy things.” MacKenzie agreed that scammers and influencers using AI were making it “really difficult for consumers to navigate”. That exchange reads as a direct preview of the questions TikTok would face if it sends a witness.
The pressure from rival platforms
Temu and eBay have already sat in front of the committee and taken difficult questions in public. Temu’s UK presence has expanded quickly, as our report on Temu’s UK sales growth and the end of the £135 duty relief sets out. If Amazon and TikTok stay away, the committee’s final report will rest on evidence from their competitors and their critics, which is rarely a comfortable outcome for an absent party.
What rules are coming for online marketplaces in the UK?
The backdrop to the hearing is a set of reforms that would, for the first time, give online marketplaces clear legal duties over the safety of products sold by third parties. None of them is in force yet.
A duty of care under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act
The government consulted earlier this year on secondary legislation under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025. Davies told MPs it proposes a duty for online marketplaces to prevent, identify and remove dangerous products, and suggests checks such as verifying sellers’ contact details. City AM describes the aim as holding online platforms to the same product safety standards as traditional retailers. The consultation closed on 23 June, the day of the committee hearing, according to committee member John Cooper.
A separate consultation covered enforcement. Davies said it proposes much tougher financial penalties, cost recovery and “online interface orders” that, as a last resort, could cut a platform off from UK consumers. Which? has also called for the OPSS to become an independent, consumer-focused regulator.
Product liability and the Law Commission
The Law Commission has proposed extending product liability rules to online marketplaces where defective goods are sold by businesses with no identifiable UK presence, City AM reports. That could leave platforms, including Amazon, liable for certain harms caused by products from third-party sellers. Davies told MPs the two strands go together: specific safety duties to stop unsafe goods being listed, and liability rules so consumers can get redress when something goes wrong.
Tax: today’s Budget and marketplace VAT
The letters arrive the day before Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget, today, 28 October. City AM notes reports that the Treasury plans to make platforms collect VAT from sellers with annual turnover above £90,000, potentially raising up to £1bn. Amazon has previously welcomed proposals to close the loophole, arguing they would simplify compliance for legitimate sellers. We set out the detail in our preview of plans to make Amazon and eBay collect sellers’ VAT.
| Reform | What it would do | Status on 28 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace duty of care (PRAM Act 2025) | Requires platforms to prevent, identify and remove dangerous products; seller checks | Consulted on; consultation closed 23 June 2026; regulations not yet laid |
| Enforcement powers | Higher fines, cost recovery, online interface orders | Consulted on separately; not yet in force |
| Product liability reform | Marketplace liability where the seller has no identifiable UK presence | Law Commission proposals; no legislation yet |
| Marketplace VAT collection | Platforms collect VAT for sellers above £90,000 turnover | Reported as a Budget measure; confirmation expected today |
| Fake reviews ban (DMCC Act 2024) | Bans fake and concealed incentivised reviews; CMA can fine directly | In force; CMA enforcement under way |
What does this mean for UK shoppers buying online now?
For anyone shopping for Christmas, the practical point is simple. Until the new duties take effect, your protection depends heavily on who the seller is, not which website you used. Davies told MPs that people “do not necessarily know the difference” between buying from Amazon the retailer and buying from a third-party seller on the same page.
Your rights at a glance
| Situation | Who is responsible | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Bought from a UK shop or the marketplace itself as retailer | The retailer, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 | Reject a faulty item within 30 days for a full refund; repair or replacement after that |
| Bought from a UK-based third-party seller on a marketplace | The seller, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 | Claim against the seller; use the marketplace’s guarantee and dispute process |
| Bought from an overseas seller on a marketplace | The seller, but enforcement from the UK is difficult | Use the platform’s buyer guarantee; consider chargeback or Section 75 if you paid by card |
| Bought online from any business | The seller, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 | Cancel within 14 days of delivery for most goods, then 14 days to return |
Practical checks before you buy
- Look for the “sold by” and “dispatched from” lines on the product page, and check the seller’s name and address.
- Be wary of electrical items, chargers, heaters, e-bike batteries, children’s toys and car seats at prices far below established brands; these were the categories most often flagged to MPs.
- Search the product description against the government’s product safety alerts and recalls list before buying higher-risk items.
- Pay by credit card for items between £100 and £30,000 to get Section 75 protection; for cheaper items, a debit or credit card chargeback can help.
- If a listing looks like a counterfeit of a known brand, treat it as a safety risk as well as a quality one; Which? told MPs that counterfeit chargers and hair dryers were often also unsafe.
Recent weeks show why this is not theoretical. National and regional titles reported on 27 October that 35 baby sleeping bags sold through Etsy, Vinted, Wish and Amazon had been flagged in a safety warning. Children’s sleeping bags were one of the categories Davies named in June.
What does it mean for UK sellers and independent retailers?
Most traders on Amazon, eBay and TikTok Shop are legitimate British small businesses, and many have long argued that they compete against overseas sellers who ignore UK safety and tax rules. Tighter marketplace duties could help them, but they also bring more paperwork.
More verification, more documents
Amazon told MPs it already asks for laboratory compliance documentation for high-risk categories such as e-mobility products, carbon monoxide alarms, toys and batteries, and that toy documentation now goes direct to third-party test labs. A statutory duty would almost certainly extend checks like these across platforms. Sellers of electricals, toys and personal protective equipment should expect stricter listing gates in 2027.
Takedowns that hit legitimate listings
eBay’s Weber warned MPs that platforms cannot simply remove “a similar product” without hearing from sellers, because “we are talking about small and medium businesses.” Stronger duties could tilt platforms towards removing first and asking questions later, which would catch some compliant sellers. Brand owners already dealing with copies face the same problem in reverse, as our guide to handling a counterfeit listing crisis on marketplaces explains.
For high street retailers, the debate is about fairness. Wayne Mackay framed it in terms of two shops on the same street selling the same charger, where “only one shop ensures that the product is safe”. Bricks-and-mortar retailers have long carried that duty. Extending it online narrows a cost gap that has helped overseas sellers undercut British shops.
What happens next, and what should we watch for?
The next week brings three dates that matter for British online shopping.
- Today, 28 October: the Budget. Watch whether marketplace VAT collection is confirmed, at what threshold and from when.
- Before Tuesday 3 November: whether Amazon and TikTok name witnesses, and how senior they are. A public policy lead is the most likely choice; MPs may push for someone with operational responsibility.
- Tuesday 3 November: the hearing itself. Expect questions on recalled products still listed, seller verification, influencer-led sales on TikTok Shop, fake reviews and Amazon’s warehouse labour relations, which Antonia Bance MP raised in June.
Possible outcomes
If both companies attend, the session will produce a public record of commitments that MPs can test against in their final report. If either stays away, the committee is likely to say so prominently in that report and may press ministers to tighten the draft duty of care. In either case, the government still has to lay the regulations under the 2025 Act, and that timetable is the real determinant of when shoppers gain new protection.
For now, Black Friday falls on 27 November and the Christmas peak follows. Royal Mail and the parcel firms are gearing up for the peak, and much of that traffic will come from the same marketplaces MPs are scrutinising. The safety rules for that peak will be the ones in force today, not the ones being debated next week.
Frequently asked questions
Have Amazon and TikTok refused to appear before MPs?
Not formally, as far as has been reported. Liam Byrne’s letters of 27 October raise concern about the companies’ “reluctance” to appear, but Business Matters notes they do not say whether either company has declined or why. Both have been asked to provide a representative for 3 November.
When is the hearing and who is holding it?
The hearing is on Tuesday 3 November 2026. It is being held by the Commons Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, chaired by Liam Byrne, which began its consumer protection work as the Business and Trade Committee.
What will the hearing cover?
According to Byrne’s letter, it will consider consumer protection matters relating to the regulation of online marketplaces and the sale of products on them. Based on the June sessions, likely topics include recalled and unsafe products, seller checks, counterfeit goods and fake reviews.
Is Amazon legally responsible for unsafe products sold by third-party sellers?
Not in the same way as a retailer, under current UK product safety law. Amazon told MPs in June that for third-party listings it is “neither the manufacturer nor the importer”. Proposed rules under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 and Law Commission proposals on product liability could change that.
How common are unsafe products on UK marketplaces?
Estimates vary. Electrical Safety First told MPs that roughly one in 18 of more than 24,000 listings it scanned was likely non-compliant, and Which? found about 800 listings identical or near-identical to recalled products. Trading standards figures put marketplace-related consumer detriment at about £5bn a year.
What should I do if I bought an unsafe product online?
Stop using it, contact the seller and the marketplace, and check the government’s product safety recalls list. If you paid by card you may be able to claim through Section 75 (credit cards, £100 to £30,000) or chargeback. You can also report the product to Citizens Advice, which passes reports to trading standards.
Does this affect Black Friday shopping?
Not directly. Any new duties on marketplaces will take time to come into force, so this year’s Black Friday on 27 November will run under current rules. That makes it worth checking who the seller is before buying higher-risk items such as chargers, heaters and toys.
Why has TikTok Shop not given evidence before?
TikTok was not on the June panel, which featured Amazon, eBay and Temu. It is not publicly known why. With more than 200,000 UK-based sellers on TikTok Shop, MPs are keen to question the company on social commerce, where products are sold through creators and live streams.