Amazon faces landmark monopoly lawsuit by top US consumer watchdog FTC
- The e-commerce giant is accused of forcing sellers to use its warehouses and delivery services, inflating costs for consumers and sellers
- Amazon says the FTC lawsuit is wrong-headed and will hurt consumers by leading to higher prices and slower deliveries
The FTC accused Amazon, a company started in a garage in 1994 and today worth US$1.3 trillion, of fighting efforts by sellers on its online marketplace to offer products more cheaply on other platforms. Amazon forces sellers to use its warehouses and delivery services, inflating costs for consumers and sellers, the FTC said.
Amazon is a monopoly and misuses its powers, according to the FTC, which quotes a seller as saying: “We have nowhere else to go and Amazon knows it.”
The lawsuit had been expected after years of complaints that Amazon.com and other tech giants abused their dominance of search, social media and online retailing to become gatekeepers on the most profitable aspects of the internet.
The need to take action against Big Tech has been one of the few ideas that Democrats and Republicans have agreed on, and the FTC chief has been particularly concerned about Amazon’s power.