Arizona accuses Amazon of being a monopoly and deceiving consumers with ‘dark patterns’
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed two new lawsuits against Amazon on Wednesday, bringing similar complaints to those the company is already facing from the Federal Trade Commission.
Both of the lawsuits are brought under Arizona’s own state statutes in the Superior Court of Arizona. One of the lawsuits accuses Amazon of engaging in deceptive business practices that violate the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by allegedly using design tricks known as dark patterns to keep users from canceling their Amazon Prime subscriptions. This is similar to a lawsuit the FTC filed against the company in June.
The other lawsuit accuses Amazon of breaking Arizona’s Uniform State Antitrust Act by unfairly maintaining monopoly status by enforcing agreements with third-party sellers that restrict them from offering lower prices off of the platform than they do on Amazon. This kind of language, sometimes called a “most favored nation” clause, has also been targeted by other state AGs, including in the District of Columbia and California. (The DC case was thrown out, but the AG is trying to get it reinstated.)
The Arizona antitrust suit also targets Amazon’s Buy Box algorithm through the Consumer Fraud Act. That algorithm is the system that determines which product in a category gets the best placement with a “Buy Now” button. The AG alleges this algorithm is “biased in favor of Amazon first-party retail offers or offers from third-party sellers who participate in Fulfillment By Amazon.” Because of this, the AG argues, consumers reasonably believe items with the Buy Box offer the best price, but in reality, they “routinely overpay for items that are available at lower prices from other sellers on Amazon … because Amazon has chosen to display the offers for which it will earn the highest fees.” Both aspects of this lawsuit are reflected in the FTC’s recent antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, where it’s joined by more than a dozen state AGs.
Arizona is asking the court to stop Amazon from engaging in the allegedly deceptive and anticompetitive practices and award civil penalties and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains.
Amazon did not immediately provide a comment on the lawsuits.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed two new lawsuits against Amazon on Wednesday, bringing similar complaints to those the company is already facing from the Federal Trade Commission. Both of the lawsuits are brought under Arizona’s own state statutes in the Superior Court of Arizona. One of the lawsuits accuses…
Recent Posts
- Five ways Trump’s new policies will impact electric vehicles in the US
- Trump Says He Ended the ‘EV Mandate.’ What Does That Mean?
- NYT Strands today — my hints, answers and spangram for Wednesday, January 22 (game #325)
- Trump says he’s open to Musk or Ellison buying TikTok
- Microsoft is letting OpenAI get its own AI compute now
Archives
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010