FTC Sues Amazon Over Alleged Ad Price Manipulation

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 22 states have filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing it of deceiving businesses by overcharging prices to advertise on its platform.

The lawsuit claims that Amazon raised the minimum price for advertisers without their knowledge, resulting in an estimated $20 billion being extracted from 1.2 million customers.

Amazon's auction system is used to set advertising prices, but the FTC alleges that the company manipulated the results to increase its ad revenue.

The lawsuit is the third major case filed against Amazon by the FTC in recent years, with previous cases involving allegations of deceptive Prime enrollment practices and user privacy violations.