The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Amazon, accusing the company of deceptive pricing practices that misled advertisers using its sprawling ad platform. The action targets how Amazon handled ad auctions and the transparency, or lack thereof, around what advertisers were actually paying for.
Amazon’s advertising arm generated $68.6 billion in revenue over the past year, making it one of the largest digital ad businesses on the planet, trailing only Google.
What the FTC is alleging
At the heart of the complaint are claims that Amazon used undisclosed “reserve pricing” in its ad auctions. Advertisers thought they were competing in a straightforward bidding process, but Amazon was allegedly setting hidden price floors that inflated what sellers had to pay without telling them the rules had changed.
The FTC’s consumer protection division had been building toward this action for months. A potential complaint was drafted as early as June 2026, with investigators zeroing in on how Amazon described the terms and pricing mechanisms of its sponsored listings program to the businesses buying ads.
