FTC and states sue Amazon over ad pricing

The complaint alleges Amazon introduced internal 'soft reserve prices' in 2019 to inflate bidding prices, misleading more than 1.2 million advertisers including over 500,000 small businesses.

The FTC says the scheme extracted tens of billions of dollars from sellers.

Amazon disputed the claims, saying they mischaracterize its advertising business.

The lawsuit adds to a growing list of antitrust and consumer protection actions against the e-commerce giant.