Washington DC sues Amazon over e-commerce domination

Amazon was hit Tuesday with an antitrust suit from the US capital city Washington, claiming the tech giant abuses its dominant position in online retail sales, harming consumers.

The suit filed by the office of Attorney General Karl Racine alleges that Amazon’s control of 50 to 70 percent of US e-commerce sales results in higher consumer prices.

“Amazon’s online retail sales platform benefits from, and is protected by, Amazon’s anticompetitive business practices,” said the suit filed in District of Columbia superior court.

“Far from enabling consumers to obtain the best products at the lowest prices, Amazon instead causes prices across the entire online retail sales market to be artificially inflated, both for products sold on Amazon’s online retail sales platform and on its competitors’ online retail sales platforms.”

Amazon, which has long claimed it delivers lower prices for consumers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit comes amid heightened scrutiny of large tech platforms which have increased their dominance during the pandemic.

US state and federal antitrust enforcers last year filed suits targeting Facebook and Google alleging illegal dominance of their respective markets.

Racine’s lawsuit seeks to stop Amazon from “anticompetitive” practices and calls for damages and other penalties.

© 2021 AFP