Lina Khan-led FTC likely to file massive lawsuit against Amazon this month

San Francisco, Sep 6

The Lina Khan-led Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US is likely to file its massive lawsuit against Amazon later this month, as the e-commerce giant reportedly failed to offer concessions to the FTC in pursuit of a settlement over antitrust claims.

The lawsuit will touch upon various aspects of Amazon’s business, while also suggesting “structural remedies” that could potentially break up the tech giant, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

“E-commerce giant’s lawyers offered no concessions in talks with agency officials last month,” the report mentioned.

The meeting was “a chance for the technology giant to make its case to the regulator to head off a possible lawsuit that officials have been working on for many months”.

The commission has been examining Amazon practices, including whether it favours its own products over competitors’ on its platforms and how it treats outside sellers on Amazon.com.

“The lawsuit will target a number of Amazon’s business practices, such as its Fulfillment by Amazon logistics programme and pricing on Amazon.com by third-party sellers,” the report said, citing people aware of the matter.

According to an earlier report in Politico, the lawsuit might lead to a court-ordered “restructuring of the $1.3 trillion empire”.

“The complaint is likely to focus on challenges to Amazon Prime, Amazon rules that the FTC says block lower prices on competing websites, and policies the FTC believes force merchants to use Amazon’s logistics and advertising services,” said the report that came out in July.

On Amazon Prime, the FTC is concerned that the “bundle of services is used to illegally cement the company’s market power”.

The FTC in June sued the e-commerce giant Amazon over alleged 'deceptive' tactics to sign up customers for its Prime service.

The complaint, filed in the federal court in the US city of Seattle, said that for years, Amazon has "knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in its Amazon Prime service".

An Amazon spokesperson had said that the FTC's claims are false on the facts and the law.