The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states sued Amazon yesterday, alleging a secret scheme to overcharge advertisers for seven years. Since 2019, Amazon has manipulated the 'auctions' used to set ad prices, secretly replacing competitive results with higher prices to boost profits. Internal documents reveal Amazon inflated prices for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display ads. The FTC estimates the illegal extraction likely exceeded $20 billion from approximately 1.2 million advertising customers. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Western District of Washington and joined by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general from Alaska through Washington. The FTC claims Amazon conducted billions of rigged auctions, imposing hidden surcharges almost every time a shopper clicks an ad, depriving customers of fair competition and transparent dealing.

Amazon has conducted billions of rigged auctions, imposing hidden surcharges on advertisers almost every time a shopper clicks on an advertisement on the Amazon website. Amazon's deception continues to this day