Amazon is scheduled to meet with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) next week, which could lead to a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against the retailer, according to people familiar with the matter.
The FTC began investigating Amazon during the administration of former President Donald Trump, when the administration decided to investigate Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple for alleged violations of antitrust laws. The company has been criticized for allegedly favoring its own products over external sellers on its platform, among other things. Amazon denies wrongdoing.
Amazon is expected to argue in a meeting with commissioners that the FTC should not have filed an antitrust complaint against the company, another source said. The FTC typically meets with companies after a lengthy investigation before deciding whether to file a lawsuit.
The FTC declined to comment on the planned meeting.
Before becoming FTC chair, Lina Khan published an article in the Yale Law Journal in 2017 titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” which argued that traditional antitrust concerns fall short to identify antitrust harm caused by Amazon.
Amazon has faced a series of allegations from a long list of critics, including using third-party data to decide which products to sell, favoring its products against independent sellers on the Amazon platform, and requiring Prime sellers to use Amazon’s logistics and services. delivery service.
Other critics say Amazon has abused its gatekeeper power by refusing to allow large competitors to advertise its products on Amazon’s platform and using below-cost prices for goods and services to retain customers, including on Prime.
The company, which employs about 1.5 million people worldwide, has also been accused of abusing labor power and driving down wages.
In the wake of Trump’s Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission investigations into Alphabet’s Google, Meta’s Facebook, Apple and Amazon, a House panel released a major report on how the companies dominate their industries.
The Justice Department has sued Google twice, once over its search business and the second over ad technology. The FTC has sued Meta’s Facebook. Those cases have yet to go to trial.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Amazon in June, alleging it included millions of consumers in its paid subscription Amazon Prime without their consent and made it difficult for them to cancel. Amazon called the FTC’s claims “inconsistent with the facts and the law.”
On May 31, the FTC announced a $5.8 million (roughly Rs. 480 crore) settlement with Amazon’s Ring doorbell camera unit after the agency said the cameras were used to spy on certain customers. In May, Amazon also agreed to pay $25 million (roughly Rs. 2.06 crore) to settle FTC charges that the company violated children’s privacy rights by failing to delete Alexa virtual assistant recordings at parents’ request and by keeping them longer than necessary.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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