The Federal Trade Commission and more than a dozen state attorneys general have filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant has unlawfully leveraged its market dominance to stamp out would-be competitors.
“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement Tuesday. “The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them.”
“The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court,” Amazon said in a statement Tuesday.
Khan is a known critic of Amazon. Before heading up the FTC, Khan penned a 2017 article for the Yale Law Journal titled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.”
It's going to be very interesting to watch. There's a lot on the line, and I hate to think that this is just "fine we'll sue then and then they'll win and we'll lose even more" like with Microsoft...
It's going to be very interesting to watch. There's a lot on the line, and I hate to think that this is just "fine we'll sue then and then they'll win and we'll lose even more" like with Microsoft in the 90s. Hopefully they have some teeth. There's so many obvious lines that have been crossed in regards to the law, and yet so far they've all been "too big to prosecute".
It seems that within a span of 15 minutes this has been posted twice, by me and by @Fal. Since theirs was posted a bit earlier I will delete this to avoid duplicates. Thanks @Wes for pointing to...
It seems that within a span of 15 minutes this has been posted twice, by me and by @Fal. Since theirs was posted a bit earlier I will delete this to avoid duplicates. Thanks @Wes for pointing to that NY Times thread.
Hoooo boy its finally starting! Can we do Facebook next? I hope this includes Audible because they're doing some very shady stuff over there, basically strong arming exclusive deals with...
Hoooo boy its finally starting! Can we do Facebook next?
I hope this includes Audible because they're doing some very shady stuff over there, basically strong arming exclusive deals with authors/publishers.
While I agree with the lawsuit, Amazon has been abusing their market share and position as both a platform and a seller. My problem is that the solution seems to be to restrict what Amazon can...
While I agree with the lawsuit, Amazon has been abusing their market share and position as both a platform and a seller.
My problem is that the solution seems to be to restrict what Amazon can sell, which is a good solution for a platform of sellers, however I fucking hate third party sellers. Every time I had a problem with a product that I got from Amazon had been because I got it from a third party seller.
I wish Amazon would remove all 3rd parties but considering how much they make on fees from the sellers I doubt they will. I want Amazon to become more like Costco but instead they are eBay.
Makena Kelly and Emma Roth
Thread for NYT story.
The FTC sure has been busy lately.
It's going to be very interesting to watch. There's a lot on the line, and I hate to think that this is just "fine we'll sue then and then they'll win and we'll lose even more" like with Microsoft in the 90s. Hopefully they have some teeth. There's so many obvious lines that have been crossed in regards to the law, and yet so far they've all been "too big to prosecute".
It seems that within a span of 15 minutes this has been posted twice, by me and by @Fal. Since theirs was posted a bit earlier I will delete this to avoid duplicates. Thanks @Wes for pointing to that NY Times thread.
Hoooo boy its finally starting! Can we do Facebook next?
I hope this includes Audible because they're doing some very shady stuff over there, basically strong arming exclusive deals with authors/publishers.
While I agree with the lawsuit, Amazon has been abusing their market share and position as both a platform and a seller.
My problem is that the solution seems to be to restrict what Amazon can sell, which is a good solution for a platform of sellers, however I fucking hate third party sellers. Every time I had a problem with a product that I got from Amazon had been because I got it from a third party seller.
I wish Amazon would remove all 3rd parties but considering how much they make on fees from the sellers I doubt they will. I want Amazon to become more like Costco but instead they are eBay.