Amazon Sued by FTC Over Alleged Advertising Price Inflation

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Amazon, joined by 22 states, over allegedly inflating auction prices for advertisers on its platform.

The FTC claims that Amazon systematically raised the minimum price required to place ads promoting products without the knowledge of advertisers, resulting in billions of dollars in losses.

This alleged practice is said to have cost advertisers $20 billion or more, while Amazon generated 'billions of dollars in profits' from it, according to the FTC.

Amazon has denied these allegations, stating that its advertising policies aim to show shoppers the most relevant ads and that the average cost per click for advertisers remained flat from 2019 to 2024, despite a rise in sales generated from those clicks.