Amazon is facing a new federal lawsuit alleging the company secretly manipulated the auctions used to determine advertising prices, costing more than 1.2 million brands and sellers at least $20 billion and potentially pushing some of those costs onto shoppers. The Federal Trade Commission filed the lawsuit August 31 alongside a bipartisan coalition of 22 states, including New York, California, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington.
Regulators accuse Amazon of deceptive and unfair practices involving advertisements that appear alongside product search results on its website and app. Amazon denies wrongdoing and disputes the government’s claims about both advertising costs and consumer harm.
