Amazon routinely uses its monopoly power to rig markets and stifle dissent. Whether it’s crushing locally owned businesses, stealing intellectual property with impunity, censoring conservative voices, or another of its nefarious business practices, Amazon maintains a stranglehold on the marketplace.
Over a century ago, Republicans championed the creation of antitrust laws in order to give small businesses a fair shot, and President Trump, notably, helped reinvigorate antitrust efforts by bringing historic suits against Amazon’s fellow Big Tech monopolists like Facebook and Google.
Now, after years of anticipation, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a long-overdue antitrust suit against Amazon alongside a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general. Republicans should welcome the suit as an opportunity to reinvigorate the free market and promote American entrepreneurship.
The FTC’s lawsuit is the culmination of an investigation started under former chairman Joseph Simons, who led the agency during the Trump years. The suit accuses Amazon of illegally favoring its own products over competitors and sellers alike on the company’s platforms, a practice known as self-preferencing. The suit highlights that, by punishing sellers for offering lower prices on other platforms, Amazon is leveraging its monopoly power to stifle competition and raise prices on consumers. Ambitious in size and scope, it also highlights how Amazon effectively forces sellers to use Amazon’s fulfillment centers in order to sell on Prime — without access to Prime, third-party vendors aren’t algorithmically favored in searches, and their products become less accessible to consumers due to more expensive and slower
