According to the lawsuit filed on Monday, the alleged scheme has likely netted Amazon $20bn (£14.8bn) from advertising customers since 2019. ^[1] The US Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan group of 22 states filed a lawsuit alleging that Amazon secretly overcharged more than one million advertising customers by manipulating online auctions used to set ad prices. ^[2] The FTC alleged that Amazon systematically inflated auction prices for advertisers without their knowledge, costing them $20 billion or more. ^[3] The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging Amazon illegally raised prices for advertisers by surreptitiously increasing the minimum price required to place ads. ^[4] A complaint filed in Washington states that Amazon overrides and replaces actual auction results with higher prices set by Amazon to increase its profits. ^[5] The lawsuit accuses Amazon of secretly charging advertisers more in so-called second price auctions, where advertisers expect to pay one cent more than the next highest bidder. ^[6] Amazon denied wrongdoing in a blog post, stating its advertising policies aim to show shoppers the most relevant ads and that average cost per click remained flat from 2019 to 2024. ^[7] The agency joined by a bipartisan group of 22 US states will seek tens of billions in damages, though a precise amount has not yet been settled. ^[8]