The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the online commerce giant engages in unfair monopolistic practices.
The lawsuit claims that Amazon facilitates two anticompetitive processes in its online marketplace. First, the lawsuit alleges that Amazon uses anti-discounting measures to punish other online retailers from offering prices lower than Amazon. Secondly, the FTC claims that conditioning sellers' ability to obtain Prime memberships has made it more expensive for sellers and represents "unlawful coercion," according to a Sept. 26 FTC news release.
Additionally, the regulatory agency accuses the tech giant of replacing search results with paid advertisements, biasing search results for Amazon goods and charging costly fees for sellers.
The news comes as Amazon looks to tie in its expanded healthcare offerings into its electronic commerce marketplace. For the first time, Amazon offered discounts for One Medical membership, the primary care company it bought in February for $3.9 billion, on Prime Day.
"Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in the FTC news release. "The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them. Today's lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition."
Amazon did not respond to requests for comment.