Amazon Sued for Alleged $20 Billion Ad Price Gouge

California and 21 other states have joined forces with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to sue Amazon over alleged overcharging of its advertising customers. The lawsuit claims that Amazon has charged advertisers more than $20 billion since 2019 by falsely describing how it sets their prices.

The company tells its 1.2 million advertisers that its prices are determined by competitive bidding, but the states and FTC say this is not true. Instead, Amazon allegedly replaces actual auction results with higher prices set by the company to increase profits.

Amazon's customers were given no notice of this change, and the company took steps to conceal it. When faced with customer complaints about suspicious price increases, Amazon denied any involvement in raising the prices.

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court order against deceptive practices. Amazon collected around $68 billion in advertising revenue last year.