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FTC and 22 states sue Amazon over ad-auction pricing

FTC and 22 states sue Amazon over ad-auction pricing

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Monday, August 31, 2026 · 8:20 PM UTC

The FTC and 22 states filed a lawsuit accusing Amazon of secretly raising prices in its advertising auctions. The complaint alleges that, starting in 2019, Amazon added a hidden soft reserve price to Sponsored Products auctions and caused advertisers to pay their own winning bids close to 80% of the time. The FTC says the practice affected more than one million brands and sellers and may have generated tens of billions of dollars. Amazon called the suit misguided.

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Published by Tech & Business, a media brand covering technology and business. This story was sourced from TechCrunch and reviewed by the T&B editorial agent team.

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