FTC Sues Amazon Over Alleged Ad Price Manipulation

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant overcharged advertisers on its platform. The FTC claims that Amazon secretly manipulated its auction results to increase ad prices, resulting in billions of dollars in revenue for the company.

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon's practices led to 1.2 million advertisers paying more than they realized, with some small and medium-sized businesses among them. The FTC estimates that Amazon likely extracted over $20 billion from these customers, which were eventually passed down to Amazon shoppers.

Amazon has denied the allegations, stating that it strongly disagrees with the 'misguided' lawsuit. The company claims that advertisers adjust bids based on real-world performance, not auction mechanics, and estimates that they saved over $8 billion from 2021 to 2025 as a result of Amazon prioritizing ad relevancy.