Amazon, in ‘Last-Rite’ Meetings, Will Meet FTC Officials Eyeing Antitrust Lawsuit

Amazon representatives plan to meet with officials from the Federal Trade Commission next week, signaling that the regulator is close to filing a landmark antitrust lawsuit against the e-commerce giant over anti-competitive practices, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Company representatives will meet individually with each of the agency’s three commissioners, in face-to-face conversations the newspaper called a “last-rites meeting.” Such meetings are typically one of the last steps before the FTC files a lawsuit or reaches a settlement with a company. “Last rites” suggests the former is the impending outcome.

Reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told The Messenger, "Unfortunately, we are going to decline to comment on this one." FTC spokesperson Victoria Graham said in an email, “No comment.”

It’s still unclear what specific business practices the FTC would target in a complaint against the online retailer. Politico first broke the news of a looming lawsuit on July 25, reporting that the regulator was investigating whether Amazon punishes sellers who don’t use the company's logistics and advertising services by altering their placement on the website, in turn blocking price competition.

Federal and state authorities have brought several high-profile actions against the nearly $1.5 trillion titan in recent years. In June, the FTC sued Amazon for enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent, all while knowingly making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions to Prime.

In May, the agency and the Justice Department charged the company with violating children’s privacy law by permanently keeping kids’ Alexa voice recordings and thwarting parents’ deletion requests. A proposed order would require Amazon to pay $25 million and delete children’s data, geolocation data and other voice recordings.

In recent years, the attorneys general of California and Washington D.C. sued the company over similar allegations. Last November, Amazon averted a multi-billion dollar fine from European Union regulators who alleged the company was using private data on independent sellers to boost its retail business. Amazon, which is both a global marketplace and a competitor to merchants who sell goods on its platform, agreed with EU regulators to make changes.

The e-commerce behemoth has defeated at least one private-sector lawsuit that accused it of stymying competition for shipping and fulfillment services, in turn causing consumers to pay more for their purchases in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

FTC Chair Lina Khan wrote a widely-read academic paper in 2017 arguing that Amazon was a modern monopoly that has managed to “escape antitrust scrutiny.” The agency currently has two of its five commissioner seats vacant. Commissioners, who are nominated by the President, are confirmed by the Senate and each serve a seven-year term. No more than three commissioners can be of the same political party.