Amazon has been hit with an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. alleging that the company illegally raises prices.
Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine has filed the lawsuit against the massive online retailer on May 25th.
The lawsuit alleges that the company has worked to prevent third-party sellers from offering their goods at lower prices on other platforms and has illegally maintained monopoly power. It alleges that these practices have unfairly raised prices for consumers.
“Today my office filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon for illegally abusing and maintaining its monopoly power by controlling prices across the online retail market,” Racine stated in a tweet.
“Amazon has used its dominant position in the online retail market to win at all costs. We filed this antitrust lawsuit to put an end to Amazon’s illegal control of prices across the online retail market.”
The company told CNBC in a statement that “the DC Attorney General has it exactly backwards, sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store.”
“Amazon takes pride in the fact that we offer low prices across the broadest selection, and like any store we reserve the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively.”
Several tech giants are facing increasing antitrust scrutiny, as lawsuits have been also been filed against Google and Amazon in recent months.
Source: CNBC
