The Amazon Case at the FTC: Where Do We Stand? A Law Student’s Report on Amazon’s Competition and Competition with Facebook and Microsoft
The case escalates the criticism of Amazon because it shows that the company is both owned by and sells products on the same platform. What’s more, it owns the shipping and delivery network that everyone on the platform is incentivized to use.
The FTC has been looking into other areas of Amazon’s business as well, including Amazon’s Ring doorbell service. Earlier this year, Amazon agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle an FTC lawsuit that accused Ring workers and hackers of illegally spying on customers. The tech giant also paid $25 million to settle a separate complaint from the FTC, which alleged Amazon’s Alexa product stored the recordings of children’s voices in violation of several federal laws.
FTC Chair Khan has been concerned about Amazon’s reach and influence. A law student, she wrote “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.” She rose to prominence when she published it. The paper argued that the tech giant was anti-competitive even as it gave consumers lower prices and concluded that the company should be broken up.
Although the FTC lost a lawsuit against Facebook over the acquisition of virtual reality company Within Unlimited, later struck out its attempt to stop Microsoft’s purchase of the video games giant, this year they did not lose any other lawsuits.
Khan positioned herself as an aggressive and uncompromising regulator, unafraid to challenge companies in court and unnerved by the prospect of some losses.
Later, as Democratic counsel for the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel in 2020, Khan helped write a 449-page report that called for “structural separations” of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. They “have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons,” the report said.
Amazon has built up one of the largest delivery companies in the U.S. with a web of warehouses, air hubs and trucking operations that ship more packages than FedEx. It has also ventured into healthcare, home security, filmmaking and other fields — becoming one of the world’s most valuable corporations, worth $1.3 trillion.
Private and government research shows that, even though Amazon’s growth has slowed, it remains the most popular online store in the US, capturing more than 40% of all online purchases. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimate that two thirds of US adults are members of Amazon’s Prime service.
The FTC’s Result on a Possible Injunction of an Interfering Axially Symmetric Quark-Gluon Plasma
The company was not broken down by the FTC immediately. It requested a permanent injunction, although this could change down the road. The case is expected to play out over several years.
