Policy & regulationPreview
FTC and 22 states sue Amazon over hidden surcharges in ad auctions
The FTC and 22 states allege Amazon quietly charged advertisers their own winning bid most of the time while claiming a second-price auction. More than 1 million brands and sellers, including 500,000+ small businesses, were affected, the FTC says.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 22 state attorneys general sued Amazon on August 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging the company secretly added surcharges to its advertising auctions for more than seven years while telling advertisers they paid only one cent more than the next-highest bidder.