New York – The United States is suing Amazon kicking off a long-awaited antitrust fight with the e-commerce giant, which could change the way Americans shop. As the New York Times reports, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states have filed a lawsuit accusing the company of illegally stifling competition. In their opinion, in fact, the company founded by Jeff Bezos illegally maintains a monopoly on online retail sectors by crushing traders and favoring its own services.
“The lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition,” said Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission. According to charges from the FTC and the attorneys general of New York and other US states, Amazon prevented merchants on its platform from offering lower prices elsewhere, and forced them to ship products with its logistics service if they wanted to be part of the Prime membership package. Such practices – according to the lawsuit – led to higher prices and a worse shopping experience for consumers. The proceedings bring into the spotlight the influence of the $1.3 trillion behemoth Bezos founded in 1994. Amazon’s influence on online commerce has shaped the lives of retailers around the world, established working conditions for more than a million warehouse workers and pushed the United States Postal Service to deliver on Sundays as well.
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