June 16 (Reuters) – Amazon.com may face a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that could result in civil penalties, following allegations that the e-commerce giant misled advertisers, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The FTC has a possible complaint against Amazon as part of an ongoing probe, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Several state attorneys general are also participating.
The agency has been investigating whether Amazon and Alphabet’s Google misled advertisers that place ads on their websites, Reuters reported last year.
The investigations are being conducted by the FTC’s consumer protection unit, and focus on whether Amazon and Alphabet properly disclosed terms and pricing for ads.
The FTC is seeking details about Amazon’s advertising auctions and whether it disclosed “reserve pricing” for some search ads. Reserve pricing refers to the minimum price advertisers must accept before they can buy an ad.
The agency may wrap up the probe either through a lawsuit or settlement as soon as this summer, according to Bloomberg.
The FTC declined to comment, while Amazon did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters.
The e-commerce giant in September agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines and reimbursements to Prime subscribers to settle FTC’s allegations that it deceived its customers to generate subscriptions.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Anil D’Silva)
