ftc2 articles
FTC Sues Amazon Over Secret Ad Auction Rigging Worth $20 Billion
The FTC, joined by 22 state attorneys general, has sued Amazon for allegedly running a secret scheme since 2019 to manipulate its advertising auctions, causing approximately 1.2 million advertisers to overpay by more than $20 billion. The lawsuit claims Amazon covertly imposed hidden surcharges on top of standard auction results, overriding the competitive "second price" auction system it publicly advertised, while keeping even its own sales staff unaware of the practice. Amazon has denied wrongdoing, arguing its reserve pricing system reflects true market value, that average ad costs remained flat when adjusted for inflation, and that the FTC selectively used a small number of internal documents to misrepresent its practices.
Privacy Groups to FTC: Don't Let Musk Wriggle Out of Twitter's Data Order
Privacy advocates and 15 organizations have urged the FTC to reject X's petition to terminate the agency's oversight order, warning that Elon Musk's platform poses a "serious risk to Americans' privacy." X had argued the order was unnecessary due to the company's rebrand and restructuring, and that GDPR compliance made FTC audits redundant. Advocates countered that X's data practices — including training its Grok AI on user posts without meaningful consent, a major data breach, and ongoing privacy controversies — demonstrate the need for *greater* FTC scrutiny, not less.