The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is filing an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company.
On the 5th (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing sources, that the FTC plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon later this month. Having recently concluded its antitrust investigation into Amazon, the FTC proposed on the 15th of last month that Amazon's legal team prepare corrective measures regarding unfair business practices and behaviors that reduce market competition. However, Amazon did not present any concrete plans. WSJ pointed out, "Since Amazon's management did not offer any remedies to resolve the antitrust allegations in the final stage before the lawsuit, a legal battle is inevitable."
This lawsuit targets the unfair business practices Amazon has maintained by leveraging its market monopoly position. The FTC believes Amazon has engaged in anti-competitive behavior by using unfair contractual clauses to artificially maintain high prices in the online retail market, preventing third-party sellers on its platform from offering products at lower prices on competing platforms. Additionally, the FTC judged that charging fees to sellers who handle their own delivery also constitutes an abuse of market dominance.
The FTC has conducted comprehensive investigations into Amazon over several years, viewing these business practices as potentially harmful to competition. Bloomberg reported, "The FTC recently concluded a four-year antitrust investigation into Amazon that began during the Trump administration and is now intensifying the lawsuit against Amazon later this month."
If this lawsuit proceeds in earnest, sources say the FTC may demand remedies from Amazon that could amount to corporate breakup. WSJ reported, "There is speculation that the FTC might propose 'structural remedies' through this lawsuit that could lead to the breakup of Amazon as a company."
Big tech regulations initiated during the Trump administration have become even stronger under the Joe Biden administration. The FTC, a major pillar of Biden's antitrust regulation, has focused more on ex-post regulations such as corporate breakups and fines rather than ex-ante regulations, strengthening controls over big tech companies that dominate all digital platforms including search, e-commerce, and social media. Strong measures such as corporate breakup lawsuits like those against AT&T and legislation to reduce business scope are also underway.
As part of this effort, the FTC sued Google, which dominates the global digital advertising market, for antitrust violations and filed a lawsuit against Meta's acquisition of the virtual reality (VR) startup Within, claiming it reduced market competition, but the courts dismissed these cases. Injunction requests against Microsoft's $68.7 billion (approximately 91.51 trillion KRW) acquisition of Activision Blizzard were also dismissed. Over more than two years, lawsuits against big tech have mostly ended in defeat. Despite consecutive losses, the FTC continues to wield regulatory power over big tech businesses, recently targeting OpenAI, which sparked the generative artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Meanwhile, Amazon also faces antitrust regulatory risks in the European Union (EU). The EU executive body, the European Commission, is expected to finalize the list of targets for the 'Digital Markets Act (DMA)' regulation on the 6th to sanction unfair practices by big tech companies. Amazon is among the candidates for regulation alongside Apple, Alphabet, Meta, and others.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
