{"id":439,"date":"2026-06-17T04:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T04:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=439"},"modified":"2026-06-17T04:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T04:42:23","slug":"a-major-legal-action-from-the-ftc-may-soon-target-amazons-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"A Major Legal Action From the FTC May Soon Target Amazon\u2019s Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Amazon may be in trouble with the FTC for alleged sketchy practices toward advertisers, according to some of Bloomberg\u2019s anonymous sources.<\/p>\n

Read more How to Watch Austria vs Jordan Free Live Stream: 2026 World Cup From Anywhere<\/a><\/p>\n

At issue, Bloomberg says, are possible undisclosed price floors, or \u201creserve pricing,\u201d that might affect how much advertisers bid in order to make their products appear in search results.<\/p>\n

If an allegation of not disclosing a price floor doesn\u2019t sound all that devious at first (it didn\u2019t for me), another Bloomberg report from last year about potential FTC investigations into both Amazon and Google describes this phenomenon in slightly more detail:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cGoogle sells search ads via automated auctions that take place in less than a second after a user enters a query. Amazon also hosts real-time auctions that place ads within its listings, sometimes known as \u2018sponsored listings\u2019 or \u2018sponsored ads\u2019 that users see when they search for specific products.<\/i><\/p>\n

The FTC is seeking details about Amazon\u2019s auctions and whether it disclosed \u2018reserve pricing\u2019 for some search ads \u2014 price floors that advertisers must meet before they can buy an ad, the people said.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

An invisible price floor for an automated ad auction may seem like it would just confuse a low bidder while not actually charging them money\u2014no harm done. But, logically, the next step might be to up their bid<\/i>. Meaning they would be bidding against no one in order to meet an invisible reserve from Amazon (allegedly), while thinking they\u2019re bidding against a competitor. And Amazon might (allegedly) be raking in money off their confusion.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Amazon\u2019s total ad revenue for 2025 was $68 billion\u2014though that includes all ads, including video.<\/p>\n

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Bloomberg\u2019s anonymous sources from the 2025 story also say the FTC probe is an offshoot of an earlier complaint saying Amazon allegedly \u201clitters its marketplace with irrelevant search results,\u201d which motivates sellers to become advertisers, simply to make their products show up when users search the relevant terms.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Perhaps not coincidentally, what Bloomberg is describing was part of Cory Doctorow\u2019s original 2023 essay on the concept of enshittification<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSearch Amazon for \u2018cat beds\u2019 and the entire first screen is ads, including ads for products Amazon cloned from its own sellers, putting them out of business (third parties have to pay 45% in junk fees to Amazon, but Amazon doesn\u2019t charge itself these fees). All told, the first five screens of results for \u2018cat bed\u2019 are 50% ads.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is enshittification: surpluses are first directed to users; then, once they\u2019re locked in, surpluses go to suppliers; then once\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0locked in, the surplus is handed to shareholders and the platform becomes a useless pile of sh*t.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bloomberg says the FTC action, in conjunction with attorneys general in multiple state may result in penalties totaling billions of dollars. A new complaint, Bloomberg\u2019s sources say, has already been drafted. Amazon and the FTC declined Bloomberg\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Read more Tesla\u2019s Cybercab May Be Its Most Efficient EV Yet, Despite a Very Slow Rollout of Its Robotaxi Service<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amazon\u2019s total ad revenue for 2025 was $68 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"yoast_head":"\nA Major Legal Action From the FTC May Soon Target Amazon\u2019s Ads - Long Haul Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=439\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Major Legal Action From the FTC May Soon Target Amazon\u2019s Ads - Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amazon\u2019s total ad revenue for 2025 was $68 billion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longhaulmovingpros.com\/?p=439\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Haul Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T04:42:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed9c8f732aec56889e8fd0602fe5af4b\"},\"headline\":\"A Major Legal Action From the FTC May Soon Target Amazon\u2019s Ads\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T04:42:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439\"},\"wordCount\":541,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/90bca916d0e915baf8a11fd031019eba.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Tech News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longhaulmovingpros.com\\\/?p=439\",\"name\":\"A Major Legal Action From the FTC May Soon Target Amazon\u2019s Ads - 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