Amazon sued by FTC and 17 states over allegations it inflates online prices and overcharges sellers
The U.S. government and 17 states are suing Amazon in a landmark monopoly case reflecting years of allegations that the e-commerce giant abused its economic dominance and harmed fair competition.
The following states are involved: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
The groundbreaking lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission and 17 attorneys general marks the U.S. government's sharpest attack yet against Amazon, a company that started off selling books on the internet but has since become known as "the everything store," expanding into selling a vast range of consumer products, creating a globe-spanning logistics network and becoming a powerhouse in other technologies such as cloud computing.
The 172-page alleges Amazon unfairly promotes its own platform and services at the expense of third-party sellers who rely on the company바카라 게임 웹사이트s e-commerce marketplace for distribution.
For example, according to the FTC, Amazon has harmed competition by requiring sellers on its platform to purchase Amazon's in-house logistics services in order to secure the best seller benefits, referred to as "Prime" eligibility. It also claims the company anticompetitively forces sellers to list their products on Amazon at the lowest prices anywhere on the web, instead of allowing sellers to offer their products at competing marketplaces for a lower price.
That practice is already the subject of a separate lawsuit targeting Amazon filed by California바카라 게임 웹사이트s attorney general last year.
Video above from 2022: California sues Amazon, accuses it of price gouging customers
Because of Amazon's dominance in e-commerce, sellers have little option but to accept Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s terms, the FTC alleges, resulting in higher prices for consumers and a worse consumer experience. Amazon also ranks its own products in marketplace search results higher than those sold by third parties, the FTC said.
Amazon is "squarely focused on preventing anyone else from gaining that same critical mass of customers," FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters Tuesday. "This complaint reflects the cutting edge and best thinking on how competition occurs in digital markets and, similarly, the tactics that Amazon has used to suffocate rivals, deprive them of oxygen, and really leave a stunted landscape in its wake."
The states involved in the case are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
Next steps in the case
The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, and seeks a court order blocking Amazon from engaging in the allegedly anticompetitive behavior.
The FTC isn바카라 게임 웹사이트t ruling out a possible breakup of Amazon 바카라 게임 웹사이트 nor the potential for individual executives to be named in a landmark antitrust case against the e-commerce giant, according to Khan.
Speaking Tuesday just hours after the lawsuit was filed, Khan declined to say that the FTC would specifically seek a breakup as a remedy to Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s allegedly illegal monopoly.
바카라 게임 웹사이트At this stage, the complaint is really focused on the issue of liability,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Khan said at the event hosted by Bloomberg 온라인 바카라 게임 in Washington.
But the agency바카라 게임 웹사이트s complaint, filed in Seattle federal court, suggests that any court order to address the issue could include 바카라 게임 웹사이트structural relief,바카라 게임 웹사이트 a legal term referring to a potential breakup of Amazon.
Asked about that request, Khan said the FTC is broadly interested in any relief that can effectively stop Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s allegedly anticompetitive behavior.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Ultimately, you will want to make sure that any remedy is halting the illegal conduct, preventing a recurrence and ensuring that Amazon is not able to profit and benefit from its illegal behavior,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Khan said Tuesday afternoon. 바카라 게임 웹사이트When we get to the issue of remedy, those are going to be the principles we바카라 게임 웹사이트ll be focused on.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Khan also left open the possibility that Amazon executives could be held personally liable if there is sufficient evidence of their responsibility for Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s allegedly illegal conduct.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We want to make sure that we are bringing cases against the right defendants,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Khan said in response to a question from CNN about whether the FTC considered naming specific executives in Tuesday바카라 게임 웹사이트s case. 바카라 게임 웹사이트If we think that there is a basis for doing so, we won바카라 게임 웹사이트t hesitate to do that.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The suit makes Amazon the third tech giant after Google and Meta to be hit with sweeping U.S. government allegations that the company spent years violating federal antitrust laws, reflecting policymakers바카라 게임 웹사이트 growing worldwide hostility toward Big Tech that intensified after 2016. The litigation could take years to play out. But just as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his spectacular wealth have inspired critics to draw comparisons to America바카라 게임 웹사이트s Gilded Age, so may the FTC lawsuit come to symbolize a modern repeat of the antitrust crackdown of the early 20th century.
In a release, Khan accused Amazon of using 바카라 게임 웹사이트punitive and coercive tactics바카라 게임 웹사이트 to preserve an illegal monopoly.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Khan said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Today바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Amazon rejects Khan바카라 게임 웹사이트s logic
바카라 게임 웹사이트Today바카라 게임 웹사이트s suit makes clear the FTC바카라 게임 웹사이트s focus has radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition,바카라 게임 웹사이트said David Zapolsky, Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel. He said Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s practices have helped spur competition, innovation and selection across the retail industry. He argued that Amazon has fostered lower prices, faster delivery and helped small businesses sell their goods.
바카라 게임 웹사이트If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers, and reduced options for small businesses 바카라 게임 웹사이트 the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do,바카라 게임 웹사이트 he said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In a subsequent , Zapolsky warned that the FTC suit could not only force Amazon to list products at a higher price point than on rival marketplaces, but also that it could raise Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s costs of doing business 바카라 게임 웹사이트 costs that may then be passed along to consumers in the form of higher Amazon Prime subscription prices or slower shipping times.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We respect the role the FTC has historically played in protecting consumers and promoting competition,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the blog post said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Unfortunately, it appears the current FTC is radically departing from that approach, filing a misguided lawsuit against Amazon that would, if successful, force Amazon to engage in practices that actually harm consumers and the many businesses that sell in our store바카라 게임 웹사이트such as having to feature higher prices, offer slower or less reliable Prime shipping, and make Prime more expensive and less convenient.바카라 게임 웹사이트
For years, Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s critics including U.S. lawmakers, European regulators, third-party sellers, consumer advocacy groups and more have accused the company of everything from mistreating its workers to forcing its third-party sellers to accept anticompetitive terms. Amazon has unfairly used sellers바카라 게임 웹사이트 own commercial data against them, opponents have said, so it can figure out what products Amazon should sell itself. And the fact that Amazon competes with sellers on the very same marketplace it controls represents a conflict of interest that should be considered illegal, many of Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s critics have said.
But Tuesday바카라 게임 웹사이트s FTC suit is more narrowly focused, taking aim at Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s behavior in two specific markets: an 바카라 게임 웹사이트online superstore바카라 게임 웹사이트 market, in which its conduct allegedly harmed shoppers; and an 바카라 게임 웹사이트online marketplace services바카라 게임 웹사이트 market serving independent sellers. Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s deliberate self-preferencing of its own products in search results is an outgrowth of the underlying anticompetitive behavior at issue in the case, said John Newman, deputy director of the FTC바카라 게임 웹사이트s competition bureau.
A defining moment for Lina Khan
The lawsuit represents a watershed moment in Khan바카라 게임 웹사이트s career. She is widely credited with kickstarting antitrust scrutiny of Amazon in the United States with a seminal law paper in 2017. She later helped lead a congressional investigation into the tech industry바카라 게임 웹사이트s alleged competition abuses, detailing in a 450-page report how Amazon 바카라 게임 웹사이트 as well as Apple, Google and Meta 바카라 게임 웹사이트 enjoy 바카라 게임 웹사이트monopoly power바카라 게임 웹사이트 and that there is 바카라 게임 웹사이트significant evidence바카라 게임 웹사이트 to show that the companies바카라 게임 웹사이트 anticompetitive conduct has hindered innovation, reduced consumer choice and weakened democracy.
The investigation led to a raft of legislative proposals aimed at reining in the companies, but the most significant ones have stalled under a barrage of industry lobbying and decisions by congressional leaders not to bring the bills up for a final vote.
Lawmakers바카라 게임 웹사이트 inaction has left it to antitrust enforcers to police the tech industry바카라 게임 웹사이트s alleged harms to competition. In 2021, President Joe Biden stunned many in Washington when he tapped Khan not only to serve on the FTC but to lead the agency, sending a signal that he supported tough antitrust oversight.
Since then Khan has taken an aggressive enforcement posture, particularly toward the tech industry. Under her watch, the FTC has sued to block numerous tech acquisitions, most notably Microsoft바카라 게임 웹사이트s $69 billion deal to acquire video game publisher Activision Blizzard. It has moved to restrict how companies may collect and use consumers바카라 게임 웹사이트 personal information, and warned them of the risks of generative artificial intelligence.
Mounting monopoly scrutiny
Throughout, the FTC has scrutinized Amazon 바카라 게임 웹사이트 suing the company in June for allegedly tricking millions of consumers into signing up for Amazon Prime and reaching multimillion-dollar settlements in May with the company over alleged privacy violations linked to Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s smart home devices.
But the latest suit against Amazon may rank as the most significant of all, because it drives at the heart of Amazon바카라 게임 웹사이트s e-commerce business and focuses on some of the most persistent criticisms of the company.
In one heavily redacted portion of the FTC lawsuit, agency attorneys cryptically described Project Nessie, an 바카라 게임 웹사이트algorithm바카라 게임 웹사이트 and 바카라 게임 웹사이트pricing system바카라 게임 웹사이트 that has allegedly 바카라 게임 웹사이트extracted바카라 게임 웹사이트 an undisclosed amount of value 바카라 게임 웹사이트from American households.바카라 게임 웹사이트 It is unclear what Project Nessie is or how it works, but the FTC alleges in the complaint that the company바카라 게임 웹사이트s program 바카라 게임 웹사이트belies its public claim that it 바카라 게임 웹사이트seek[s] to be Earth바카라 게임 웹사이트s most customer-centric company.바카라 게임 웹사이트바카라 게임 웹사이트 Amazon didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t immediately respond to CNN바카라 게임 웹사이트s questions about Project Nessie.
In a sign of how threatening Amazon perceived Khan바카라 게임 웹사이트s ascent to be, the company in 2021 called for her recusal from all cases involving the tech giant.
Khan has resisted those calls. And in remarks to reporters this week, Khan deflected questions about her past work on Amazon, praising the efforts of FTC staff in completing the agency바카라 게임 웹사이트s investigation. On Tuesday, the FTC said it held a unanimous 3-0 vote authorizing the lawsuit; Khan was among those voting to proceed.
