FTC, 22 States Sue Amazon Over Unfair Charges In Ad Surcharge Scheme

The FTC and 22 states filed suit against Amazon alleging it concealed unfair charges in its digital advertising auction pricing, a practice that is described as having extracted “tens of billions of dollars” from advertisers. The allegations raise regulatory and potential remedial-cost risk for Amazon’s ad business, and could pressure sentiment given the scale of alleged overcharges. The news is likely to be material for the stock and the broader ad-tech/marketplace regulatory outlook.