FTC and 22 States Sue Amazon Over Alleged Secret Ad Surcharges
The FTC and 22 states sued Amazon alleging it secretly inflated prices in online search-ad auctions for seven years. The complaint says surcharges were undisclosed and that winners were charged their own price about 80% of the time, raising costs for more than 1 million brands and sellers and potentially costing tens of billions. Amazon disputes the allegations and says it saved over $8 billion (2021–2025) via ad relevancy.
Coverage (13)
- Feds and 22 states — including Pa. — sue Amazon, alleging deceptive advertising scheme (monvalleyindependent.com)
- US states and FTC accuse Amazon of hidden advert price hikes (retail-insight-network.com)
- FTC Lawsuit Puts Amazon’s (AMZN) High-Margin Advertising Business in Focus (finance.yahoo.com)
- FTC, 22 states sue Amazon over deceptive advertising practices (axios.com)
- FTC and 22 states sue Amazon over advertising prices (spectrumlocalnews.com)
- Federal Trade Commission and 22 states sue Amazon over inflated advertising prices (dailynews.com)
- Federal Trade Commission and 22 states sue Amazon over inflated advertising prices (apnews.com)
- FTC Prepares Lawsuit Against Amazon Over Advertising Pricing Claims (bloomberg.com)
- Amazon sued by FTC, 22 states over advertising practices (nbcnews.com)
- Amazon sued by FTC, 22 states over advertising practices (ksl.com)
- FTC and 22 states sue Amazon over alleged secret ad surcharge scheme (cbsnews.com)
- Amazon’s response to the FTC’s lawsuit regarding Sponsored Ads (aboutamazon.com)
- US trade regulator and 22 states accuse Amazon of taking $20bn with secret surcharges (theguardian.com)