TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on Nov 3, 2023

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a new court filing released yesterday, accused Amazon.com of using illegal strategies to boost profits, including an algorithm, “Project Nessie,” that earned the online retailer more than $1 billion, reports Reuters. Details of the lawsuit, filed in September, were withheld until yesterday when a version with fewer redactions was made public in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The FTC said the algorithm allowed the retailer “to extract more than a billion dollars directly from Americans' pocketbooks,” calling it an "unfair method of competition" because it manipulates other online stores into raising prices, allowing Amazon to do the same. The complaint also accuses Amazon of hiding operations from antitrust enforcers and destroying office communications. In a section of the lawsuit which remains heavily redacted, Amazon allegedly deterred Walmart from offering discounts to online shoppers who picked up their purchases from stores.