Mamdani adviser, Warren in the hot seat as collapse of Roomba maker shifts data to China

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and former Biden Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan are taking heat for helping to kill a deal for Amazon to acquire Roomba creator iRobot, ultimately leading to the company going bankrupt and likely falling under Chinese control.

Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, a U.S. national security watchdog group, ripped into Warren and Khan over their opposition to the deal. Lucci told Fox News Digital that Warren and Khan’s opposition directly contributed to China’s "growing espionage foothold inside American homes" and that "now it’ll be even harder for American families to avoid CCP spy devices."

In January 2024, iRobot announced that its deal to be acquired by Amazon had collapsed. At the time, iRobot cited regulatory difficulties, especially in Europe, for the deal falling through. In a joint Amazon-iRobot statement, the companies said the merger had "no path to regulatory approval in the European Union."

This followed intense opposition from progressive lawmakers, including Warren, over "concerns about Amazon’s anticompetitive practices that put consumers and their privacy at risk."

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The Massachusetts senator said, "I have serious concerns about the Amazon-iRobot deal – dominant companies like Amazon shouldn’t be allowed to just buy their way out of competing."

"The FTC should oppose this proposed merger to protect competition, lower consumer prices, and rein in Amazon’s well-documented anticompetitive activities," said Warren.

The FTC under Khan, who served as a top advisor to New York City socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani's transition team, also opposed the deal.

At the time, the FTC released a statement after the Amazon-iRobot merger fell through in which it said, "We are pleased that Amazon and iRobot have abandoned their proposed transaction."

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The commission said that its "investigation revealed significant concerns about the transaction’s potential competitive effects," adding, "The FTC will not hesitate to take action in enforcing the antitrust laws to ensure that competition remains robust."

Two years later, after filing for bankruptcy in December, iRobot is set to be acquired by Chinese company Shenzhen Picea Robotics and affiliated Santrum Hong Kong. This has given rise to new concerns about iRobot’s sensitive home mapping data falling into the Chinese Communist Party's hands.

As Shenzhen Picea Robotics and Santrum Hong Kong are Chinese-controlled companies, they are subject to CCP laws. This means that any U.S. consumer data the companies gain control of may be subject to China’s national intelligence laws, which can compel firms to provide information to the government without judicial oversight or public disclosure.

"While Lina Khan and Elizabeth Warren congratulate themselves for blocking Amazon’s iRobot acquisition, the real winner is Communist China," Lucci told Fox News Digital.

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"iRobot collapsed into bankruptcy and now Beijing-linked buyers are snapping up its assets, including sensitive home-mapping data. That’s the end result of their so-called 'consumer protection,’" he went on.

"In the end, American and European regulators played the role of useful idiots, handing China more access and leverage, and adding to a growing espionage foothold inside American homes," he said. "Now it’ll be even harder for American families to avoid CCP spy devices."

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Amazon Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer David Zapolsky commented that "this is an unfortunate textbook example of regulators -- in this case the European Commission and the FTC -- losing the forest for the trees, resulting in the loss of an innovative American company, American jobs, and American IP."

"When mergers are deterred, it can have long-lasting negative effects on companies and workers," said Zapolsky, adding, "These are the very things regulators say they are trying to protect, but when the processes become overburdensome and disproportionate, companies, workers, and consumers lose out."

In another statement, iRobot co-founder Colin Angle, who stepped down from company leadership in 2024, lamented its filing for bankruptcy, saying, "Innovation doesn’t fail only when ideas are wrong—it can fail when the path to scale is removed."

"When companies that create categories are denied viable ways to grow, everyone pays the price: consumers, employees, and the broader innovation economy," said Angle. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Warren, Khan and iRobot for comment but did not immediately receive a response.