Amazon rigged $20bn worth of ads, US FTC lawsuit alleges - BBC News

Amazon responded to the lawsuit, arguing the US Federal Trade Commission "misunderstands" their ad market.

Image source, ReutersImage caption, The Amazon logo is seen at one of its offices

Amazon secretly overcharged more than a million advertising customers by manipulating online auctions it uses to set ad prices, according to a lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a bipartisan group of 22 states.

According to the lawsuit, filed on Monday, the alleged scheme has likely netted the firm $20bn (£14.8bn) from advertising customers since 2019.

"Amazon overrides and replaces the actual auction results with higher prices set by Amazon to increase its profits," says a complaint filed in the company's home state of Washington.

In a statement to the BBC, Amazon said it "strongly disagrees" with the premise that it misled advertisers and called the suit "misguided."