'Rules are for other people': Jeff Bezos' Amazon takes swipe at Elon Musk as feud heats up

Amazon's satellite subsidiary Kuiper Systems in a regulatory filing with US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has accused billionaire Elon Musk and his companies of violating regulations with an attitude that "rules are for other people".

Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Kuiper Systems are currently locked in a dispute over rival satellite constellations placed in low-earth orbit to provide broadband internet access.

This is not the only front on which Musk and Bezos have gone toe-to-toe. Bezos's Blue Origin had recently challenged the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's decision to give a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to Musk's SpaceX.

The dispute between the two richest people on earth seems to be heating up as Amazon, in a filing with the US regulator, highlighted all instances when Musk and his firms did not adhere to laws and had issues with regulators.

"Whether it is launching satellites with unlicensed antennas, launching rockets without approval, building an unapproved launch tower, or reopening a factory in violation of a shelter-in-place order, the conduct of SpaceX and other Musk-led companies makes their view plain: rules are for other people, and those who insist upon or even simply request compliance are deserving of derision and ad hominem attacks," wrote Amazon.

The jibes made at Elon Musk and his firm are in reference to rocket launches and launch-pad construction in South Texas and Musk's direction to reopen Tesla's Fremont, California, assembly plant in May 2020 which had violated the county health officials' order to stay at home

SpaceX responded stating that Amazon's eight-page "diatribe" was "wholly irrelevant" to the discussion with the US regulator, reported Bloomberg. On Thursday, SpaceX executive David Goldman wrote in a letter to the FCC that the only issue is whether SpaceX has offered adequate information about a "minor" change in the application for its next Starlink satellite configuration.

Earlier in September, Elon Musk had taken a swipe at Jeff Bezos for filing a lawsuit against his company. The SpaceX CEO had said that filing lawsuits against his firm are Jeff Bezos' full-time job. These comments were made after Amazon had urged the FCC to dismiss SpaceX's latest amendment to its Starlink satellite network. Space X explained that this was a delay tactic by a competitor. The firm alleged that Amazon is trying to stifle the competition while "neglecting to resolve the Commission's concerns about Amazon's own non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system."

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