Amazon is being sued by the US government and 17 states in a major monopoly case

Amazon is being sued by the US government and 17 states in a landmark monopoly action over years of allegations that it misused its economic power and hurt fair competition.

This 172-page complaint claims Amazon unjustly promotes its platform and services at the expense of third-party businesses who use its e-commerce marketplace for distribution.

According to the FTC, Amazon has hurt competition by requiring sellers to buy its in-house logistics services to qualify for “Prime” seller incentives. It also says Amazon anticompetitively pressures retailers to list their products on Amazon at the lowest rates online instead of other platforms.

Last year, California's attorney general sued Amazon for such behavior.

The FTC claims that Amazon's dominance in e-commerce forces sellers to accept its requirements, raising prices and worsening customer service. Amazon also positions its own products higher in marketplace search results than third-party products, the FTC stated.

The states involved include Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

The complaint in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington seeks to stop Amazon from anticompetitive practices.

Amazon became the third internet giant after Google and Meta to be sued by the US government for years of antitrust violations, illustrating regulators' growing global antipathy toward Big internet after 2016. Litigation may last years. FTC lawsuits are a new replay of early 20th-century antitrust crackdowns.