Amazon Sued By FTC, 17 States Over Alleged Retail Monopoly

deadline.com:

The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the tech retailer has used illegal tactics in pursuit of a retail monopoly.

The commission cited what it called an “ongoing pattern of illegal conduct.” That behavior, it maintains, blocks competitors and allows Amazon to “wield monopoly power to inflate prices, degrade quality, and stifle innovation for consumers and businesses.” The FTC and the states say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against the tech giant.

Amazon’s size alone is not the crux of the complaint, the plaintiffs emphasized. Rather, it is “a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging,” a press release said. “Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” said FTC Chair Lina M.

Khan. “The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon 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.