US regulator, 22 states accuse Amazon of ‘manipulating’ ad auctions: lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — The United States (US) Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 22 states sued Amazon on Monday for allegedly “manipulating” online auctions for digital advertising, resulting in more than $20 billion in overcharges for 1.2 million customers.

Amazon “has secretly and systematically overcharged its approximately 1.2 million advertising customers by manipulating the ‘auctions’ that it uses to set the price of ads on its platform,” says the complaint, filed in federal court in Washington state.

In a blog post, Amazon called the lawsuit “misguided” and “flawed,” and said that regulators “cherry-picked” outdated internal documents.