Amazon's dominance may be at risk as Biden administration imposes sanctions

It is reported that the Biden administration has launched several investigations against Amazon and plans to initiate legal proceedings against three of them in the near future. This move may lead to a series of litigation blitzes. It can be seen that the US government is determined to curb Amazon's dominance.

As early as 2019, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into Amazon, mainly investigating Amazon's monopolistic behavior in the e-commerce field and related issues such as its products' excessive collection of consumer information.

In addition, the US Federal Trade Commission is also investigating the details of Amazon's acquisition of vacuum cleaner brand iRobot, suspecting unfair trading.

According to people familiar with the matter, Lina Khan, chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, is a staunch technology skeptic and published a well-known academic paper in 2017 that clearly pointed out that Amazon is a monopoly giant that needs to be curbed by the government.

While Amazon has already been hit with local antitrust lawsuits in Washington, D.C., and California, the upcoming federal lawsuit will be the company's most significant challenge yet.

According to foreign media reports, anonymous sources revealed that the US Federal Trade Commission is considering whether to suspend Amazon's $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot. The agency's lawyers prefer to directly file a lawsuit to suspend the deal. The case may be heard in the next few months.

There are also at least two ongoing privacy investigations into Amazon, one into its Ring camera and security systems business and another into its Alexa voice assistant, alleging that those products may have violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

Finally, the part that most sellers are most concerned about is the antitrust lawsuit against Amazon's e-commerce business. According to some people familiar with the matter, although the details are still unclear, the lawsuit may include the bundling services of Amazon's Prime subscription business and the use of sellers' data to crack down on similar sellers on its platform and promote self-operated products.

The FTC has been investigating nearly every aspect of Amazon's business since 2019, and a lawsuit from the agency has long been expected. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the FTC could file an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon in the coming months.

As of press time, neither Amazon nor the FTC spokesperson commented on the investigation.

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