Amazon soon expected to face FTC antitrust lawsuit, report says

amazon Soon to face a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The complaint is expected to focus on Amazon’s online marketplace and how the company uses its power to favor merchants using its logistics services, Bloomberg reported, based on documents it reviewed and three unnamed sources familiar with the case. Complaints could come in the next few weeks, Bloomberg said.

Such a lawsuit would be a huge milestone for FTC Chair Lina Khan, who became a well-known figure in the antitrust community when the Yale Law Journal published her comments in 2017, “Amazon’s Antitrust ParadoxIn it, Khan argues that the prevailing antitrust framework at the time failed to adequately assess Amazon’s vast power and the ways it might use it to harm competition.

Her past writing was part of what prompted Amazon to ask her to recuse herself from the antitrust case because the company believed she lacked impartiality in the matter. Yuan Similar demands have been made, but Khan has so far refused to stand by.

The FTC has taken action against Amazon in other areas, including a recent consumer protection lawsuit alleging that the platform used deception to get users to sign up for their Prime subscriptions and “sabotage” their attempts to cancel. The company also recently settled two separate cases alleging privacy breaches in its Alexa voice assistant and Ring video security products.

But the antitrust complaint against Amazon’s core business is the action most FTC watchers have been waiting for. The anticipated complaint is based in part on evidence gathered by the FTC that Amazon allegedly disadvantages sellers who do not use its fulfillment service, according to Bloomberg.

While it is possible the two sides could reach a settlement before the charges are formally filed, Khan has transmit signal She prefers structural changes, such as breakups, to companies committing to change their behavior, as this makes reconciliation less likely.

The FTC and Amazon declined to comment to CNBC.

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