The FTC says Jeff Bezos ordered Amazon executives to accept more junk ads to boost profits; Amazon used disappearing Signal chats from June 2019 to early 2022
- FTC releases less redacted antitrust complaint against Amazon — Amazon counters that the FTC is ‘wrong on facts and the law’
Bloomberg
Context & Ripple Effects
The less-redacted complaint puts Amazon’s advertising practices and senior leadership conduct inside the FTC’s broader antitrust case, while Amazon contests both the factual and legal basis for the agency’s claims. It also sits alongside the FTC’s separate Prime-enrollment case, which alleged consumer enrollment and cancellation practices designed to favor Prime.
The record-preservation issue did not end with this disclosure: later FTC filings alleged that Bezos, Andy Jassy, and other executives used disappearing Signal messages during the investigation. That makes the dispute not only about Amazon’s marketplace conduct, but also about the evidence available to test the FTC’s account.
First-order effects
The unredacted allegations increase public and litigation scrutiny of Amazon’s ad load, its profit incentives, and the role the FTC attributes to Bezos; Amazon must continue defending its contrary account in court.
The alleged use of disappearing messages makes executive communications and document preservation an immediate discovery issue in the antitrust case.
Second-order effects
Amazon’s advertising customers and marketplace participants gain a clearer view of the conduct the FTC says underpins its case, potentially increasing pressure for Amazon to explain how ad placement and quality decisions are governed.
The Signal allegations raise the stakes for preservation practices across large-platform litigation, because missing communications can become a separate point of conflict from the underlying competition claims.
Third-order effects
If courts give sustained weight to internal communications about ad monetization and platform control, antitrust challenges to digital marketplaces may increasingly turn on how a platform balances user experience, seller access, and advertising revenue.
The combination of conduct claims and disputed message retention points toward more formalized executive-recordkeeping expectations during regulatory investigations, though the outcome here remains unresolved.
The trend: This is one data point in the widening use of platform internal decision-making and communications records to test whether monetization choices amount to unlawful market power.
Amazon also harms competition and extracts monopoly rents from sellers by requiring them to use Fulfilled By Amazon to have Prime eligibility. They once launched a program called Seller Fulfilled Prime which was a huge hit 11/15 [image]
1. Amazon is in a world of legal hurt — I just read the less-redacted version of the FTC's monopoly lawsuit. Lots of evidence of Amazon execs knowingly screwing consumers & killing competition, aware of their own wrong-doing. A few highlights. First, destroying evidence. [image]
waiting for the commercials that say, “if you got served an ad for ‘buck urine’ after searching for water bottles on Amazon, you may be entitled to financial compensation.” https://www.cnbc.com/...
Under a former Amazon exec, Zulily offered to match prices on Amazon (and Walmart) during the holiday season. It didn't work. Interviews with folks who were there, and new allegations from the FTC, show how Amazon pressured suppliers to win that fight: https://www.bloomberg.com/.…
NEW unredacted section in @FTC's updated complaint on Project Nessie—the algorithm Amazon uses to sneakily raise prices on its site & across the online market.👇🧵
FTC on Amazon: “[A] secret algorithm internally code-named ‘Project Nessie’ to identify specific products for which it predicts other online stores will follow Amazon's price increases. ... $AMZN used Project Nessie to extract more than $1B directly from Americans' pocketbooks”
. @FTC just unsealed some portions of its @Amazon #antitrust complaint. FTC says Amazon deploys an algorithm for the “express purpose” of deterring other online stores from offering lower prices. It uses a game theory approach in never making first move. [image]
. @Amazon prejudicially destroyed more than 2 years worth of internal communications (from June 2019 to at least early 2022) even though @FTC instructed it not to do so, according to newly unsealed FTC complaint. Amazon execs systematically and intentionally deleted Signal chats.
The newly unredacted parts of the FTC complaint against Amazon reveal the company's true nature: Amazon is a monopolist that abuses its market power over third-party sellers and other so-called ‘business partners’, causing higher prices for consumers. https://storage.courtlistene…
Amazon intentionally destroyed two years worth of internal communications to impede the @FTC's investigation against — despite clear instructions not to do so. [image]
Dubbed “Project Nessie,” Amazon is accused of a billion dollar scheme to manipulate prices on products across online sellers. Amazon refutes these claims, saying the FTC is mischaracterizing these algorithms. 🤔 Read more:
5. Amazon's secret price-raising system, Project Nessie, fleeced at least $1 billion from shoppers. To evade detection, Amazon turned Nessie off when attention to prices was highest, such as during the holiday season. [image]
Amazon allegedly used a secret algorithm codenamed “Project Nessie” to test how much it could artificially jack up prices. It reportedly helped the company overcharge customers by $1 BILLION and led competitors to raise prices as well. So much for all of those “prime” deals.
And here, with @leah_nylen, a look at some of the other newly unsealed allegations the FTC is making against Amazon. Including that Jeff Bezos backed efforts to ramp up ads on Amazon, despite warnings it would send shoppers to irrelevant products. https://www.bloomberg.com/...