Amazon rigged billions in ad pricing, lawsuit from states and US watchdog alleges
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging the company rigged ad auctions to overcharge advertisers by billions of dollars. Amazon has denied the claims, calling the lawsuit misguided and defending its pricing practices.
Why it matters
This legal action represents a significant escalation in antitrust scrutiny of big tech's advertising business models and their impact on consumer prices.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Lily Jamali North America technology correspondent Reuters The Amazon logo is seen at one of its offices Amazon secretly overcharged more than a million advertising customers by manipulating online auctions it uses to set ad prices, according to a lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a bipartisan group of 22 states.
According to the lawsuit, filed on Monday, the alleged scheme has likely netted the firm $20bn (£14.8bn) from advertising customers since 2019.
"Amazon overrides and replaces the actual auction results with higher prices set by Amazon to increase its profits," says a complaint filed in the company's home state of Washington.
In a statement to the BBC, Amazon said it "strongly disagrees" with the premise that it misled advertisers and called the suit "misguided."
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