The Biden administration's tenure witnessed a coalition of Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and her progressive allies, alongside then-Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, successfully thwarting Amazon's proposed merger with iRobot, the creator of Roomba, over antitrust and data privacy issues, a decision that now sees iRobot's technology and consumer data heading to China, raising national security alarms according to an iRobot cofounder.
As reported by The Washington Free Beacon, iRobot, established by MIT scientists in 1990, is set to transfer all its assets, including data and technology, to China's Picea Robotics as part of a bankruptcy strategy unveiled this week. This $190 million transaction follows the layoff of 350 employees from iRobot's Bedford, Mass., facilities last year, marking a disheartening conclusion for a once-promising American enterprise.
The move could potentially heighten national security concerns, given China's history of compelling tech companies to align with its surveillance mechanisms. iRobot vacuums, similar to others in the market, gather data from within consumers' homes.
"I do wish that the data and everything stayed in this country," expressed iRobot cofounder Helen Greiner, who is no longer associated with the company. Greiner lamented the lack of significant public outcry over iRobot's data and information transitioning to a Chinese entity, stating, "Which is a little bit bizarre to me," as she told Bloomberg.
She recalled the "huge press outcry" over Amazon's July 2022 proposal to acquire iRobot for $1.7 billion, a campaign spearheaded by Khan, Warren, and notable anti-Big Tech advocacy groups. Khan, now a co-chair of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral transition team, initiated a review of the Amazon-iRobot deal in September 2022, shortly after Amazon announced the acquisition.
Warren and her supporters argued that the merger would grant Amazon a competitive edge and "increase its growing surveillance powers." In a letter to Khan dated Sept. 28, 2022, Warren and fellow Democrats, including now-California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter, asserted, "Amazon's acquisition of iRobot would give the company access to the inside of homes effectively giving Amazon 'eyes and ears' inside the home."
Evan Greer from Fight for the Future contended at the time that "Amazon is a surveillance company" and that acquiring iRobot, "that's essentially built on mapping the inside of people's homes seems like a natural extension of the surveillance reach that Amazon already has."
The European Commission joined the fray in August 2023, launching its own inquiry into the proposal. Under mounting pressure from all sides, Amazon and iRobot abandoned the merger on Jan. 29, 2024, citing "opposition from EU and U.S. antitrust regulators." Reports indicate that FTC officials met with Amazon earlier that month to inform the company of their intention to vote against the merger. The FTC expressed satisfaction in an official statement two days later, stating it was "pleased" that Amazon had withdrawn from the deal.
Subsequently, iRobot announced layoffs affecting over 40 percent of its workforce, predominantly based in the United States. Warren deflected responsibility for the layoffs, expressing regret for job losses but emphasizing that "iRobot's problems didn't start last week or last month or even last year." She attributed iRobot's challenges to decisions made "long ago when they started shipping jobs over to China."
While Warren has not commented on iRobot's sale to Picea, she has previously voiced concerns about the transfer of American technology to China, lamenting that "China is stealing our technology" and criticizing NVIDIA's sale of its computer chips to China. Last year, House Republicans criticized Khan and the FTC under then-president Joe Biden, initiating an investigation into whether the Biden FTC collaborated with the European Commission to block the merger of two American companies.
`Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused the FTC of failing to protect American interests, stating, "Instead of protecting American interests in the global market, the FTC appears to have actively coordinated with a foreign authority to block a merger which could have saved American jobs and promoted American innovation and standing in a vital market." Warren and Khan did not respond to requests for comment.
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