US court schedules trial for October 2026 in FTC antitrust case against Amazon

US court schedules trial for October 2026 in FTC antitrust case against Amazon

On September 26, after much anticipation, the consumer protection agency launched a long-awaited antitrust case against Amazon. The complaint accuses the online retailer of running an unlawful monopoly, partially due to vendors on its marketplace offering goods more cheaply on other platforms. was resisting attempts to appear.

The Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust complaint against Amazon.com, and a US federal court on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for October 2026.

On September 26, after much anticipation, the consumer protection agency launched a long-awaited antitrust case against Amazon. The complaint accuses the online retailer of running an unlawful monopoly, partially due to vendors on its marketplace offering goods more cheaply on other platforms. was resisting attempts to appear.

Following a four-year investigation, 17 state attorneys general jointly filed the complaint in federal court in Seattle.

The FTC and Amazon declined to comment.

The government requested a permanent injunction from US District Judge John Chun compelling Amazon to cease the illegal activity. One of the many possible outcomes in antitrust litigation is to compel a corporation to sell a portion of its operations.

In December, Amazon urged the court to dismiss the complaint, claiming that the FTC had failed to acknowledge the damage it was causing to customers and had mistaken "normal retail practices" for anti-competitive behavior.

Enriches himself while delivering." The FTC requested last week that Chun reject Amazon's motion, claiming the government "shows how Amazon is a monopolist and how Amazon improperly preserves its monopolistic position, affecting its consumers."

According to the FTC, Amazon used a number of unethical tactics to boost earnings, such as an algorithm that defrauded American families out of over $1 billion.

"Amazon used Project Nessie to extort more than a billion dollars directly that extends from the pocketbooks of Americans," the Federal Trade Commission said. Amazon, which has one billion items in its online superstore, developed an internal secret algorithmic code known as "Project Nessie" to identify specific products for which it is predicted that other retailers on the internet will increase the prices of Amazon.

The FTC "grossly misses" the pricing tool, according to Amazon, which ceased using it years ago. The business said that the technology was "used to try to stop our price matching," which led to "abnormal results where prices fell so low the fact that they were unsustainable."