From Engadget:
“Amazon filed a motion on Friday in the Western Washington district court asking a judge to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust lawsuit against it.
“The FTC along with 17 state attorneys general sued Amazon in September, alleging the company uses monopolistic practices that are unfair to both its competitors and consumers. Amazon is now arguing that the FTC did not provide evidence that its practices have driven up prices or harmed consumers, according to Bloomberg.
“The FTC’s lawsuit claims Amazon uses illegal tactics to crush its competition — like punishing sellers who list their products for better prices elsewhere by burying them in search results, and coercing sellers into using Amazon’s own fulfillment service by tying it to Prime eligibility. It also accuses Amazon of inflating prices from 2016-2018 using an algorithmic tool codenamed Project Nessie. These increases added up to more than $1 billion, according to the suit.”
KC’s View:
Sure, Amazon argues something that I keep saying here – that it is being targeted for “common retail practices,” at which it just happens to be better than most.
Agreed. But I still think there is a room in the public square for a reasonable, nuanced conversation about what antitrust policy should look like in 2024 and going forward. I’m not necessarily confident that this can happen – there are way too many politicians and lobbyists in the mix for that to easily happen. But we, as consumers and citizens, deserve it.
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