FTC sues Amazon alleging it overcharged advertisers for billions of dollars
- The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states filed a lawsuit alleging Amazon overcharged advertisers by more than $20 billion over seven years.
- Regulators allege Amazon manipulated minimum prices in ad space auctions, misleading advertisers and driving up costs for American consumers.
- The lawsuit claims Amazon advertised a second-price auction model but secretly applied higher soft reserve prices to maximize its advertising profits.
- Amazon denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit misguided and stating that its practices saved advertisers over $8 billion between 2021 and 2025.
- The legal action represents the FTC‘s third major lawsuit against Amazon, following previous cases involving deceptive Prime enrollments and monopolistic behavior.
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