2 September 2026
FTC sues Amazon over seven years of alleged ad pricing manipulation
First reported
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- Federal Trade Commission and 22 state attorneys general filed suit claiming Amazon overcharged advertisers in its Sponsored Products program by charging winning bids instead of lower second-price amounts about 80 percent of the time.
- Amazon's ad business generated roughly 68 billion dollars in total revenue, with alleged improper charges accounting for over 20 billion dollars of that total.
- The lawsuit centers on whether Amazon violated its own stated pricing rules in its advertising auction system, which sellers use to promote products on the platform.
How it was covered
Prompt Engineering DailyAadit Sheth
The FTC and 22 state attorneys general filed suit against Amazon for inflating prices in its Sponsored Products ad auction by charging advertisers their full winning bid about 80% of the time instead of the promised second-price model. Amazon allegedly pulled in over 20 billion dollars this way out of 68 billion in total ad revenue.