The FTC’s Antitrust Suit Against Amazon Will Go Forward Later This Month

The Federal Trade Commission is expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc. later this month, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites people familiar with the matter. 

The suit follows a "last-rites meeting" between Amazon's legal team and FTC officials on Aug. 15 that failed to produce a compromise satisfying to either party, according to the report.

An FTC spokesperson declined to comment on the story. The Messenger reached out to Amazon for comment, but did not receive a response.

The lawsuit will focus on the alleged ways that Amazon favors its own products over that of third party sellers, and will suggest “structural remedies” including a possible a break up of the company. 

Federal regulatory agencies have filed multiple lawsuits against Amazon this year: In June, the FTC sued the company for enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent; in May, the FTC and Department of Justice charged Amazon with violating children's privacy laws by keeping voice recordings of kids and not complying with parents' requests to delete them.

Lina Khan, the chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission, is a long-time critic of Amazon's business practices. In 2017, when she was still a law student, Khan wrote an article in the The Yale Law Journal which argued that Amazon "serves as essential infrastructure for a host of other businesses that depend upon it" even while "elements of the firm’s structure and conduct pose anticompetitive concerns."