US sues Amazon.com for breaking antitrust law and harming consumers

FTC Files Antitrust Lawsuit , Against Amazon. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Amazon.com on Sept. 26, Reuters reports. . According to the FTC, Amazon restricted sellers on its platform from discounting, which suppressed competition, and required them to use its "fulfilment service.". The lawsuit follows a four-year investigation after Amazon.com and other tech companies were accused of abusing their internet dominance, Reuters reports. Lawsuits were also previously filed against Google and Facebook. Lawsuits were also previously filed against Google and Facebook. Left unchecked, Amazon will continue its illegal course of conduct to maintain its monopoly power, FTC, via lawsuit. The FTC went on to ask the court "to put an end to Amazon's illegal course of conduct, pry loose Amazon's monopolistic control, deny Amazon the fruits of its unlawful practices, and restore the lost promise of competition.". The complaint also asked the court to contemplate "any preliminary or permanent equitable relief, including but not limited to structural relief, necessary to restore fair competition.". Critics of Amazon applauded the lawsuit. No corporation has ever centralized this much power across so many crucial sectors. Left unchecked, Amazon’s power to dictate and control threatens the rule of law and our ability to maintain open, democratically governed markets, Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, via statement. Amazon issued a statement about the FTC's lawsuit. The practices the FTC is challenging have helped to spur competition and innovation across the retail industry, and have produced greater selection, lower prices, and faster delivery speeds for Amazon customers and greater opportunity for the many businesses that sell in Amazon’s store, David Zapolsky, Amazon's general counsel, via statement