We really need a functioning IRS, FTC and SEC. Just won't happen if repugs are constantly elected.

wait, I thought that it was covid and supply chains and such and actually that the profit motive encourages them to lower prices because competition and so on

What’s even wilder is that Amazon made no profit for the first 20 years of its existence, something the Feds claim makes Amazon even more dangerous as they spent considerable time building their network and have now turned on full money making mode.

I'm surprised that there are still people who are surprised about this price hiking algorithm. Have you never seen weirdly fluctuating proves on Amazon before?!

So, where do we sign up for the class action?

I remember an article ages ago that showed that Amazon, undoubtedly a monopoly, was on the right side of the law because of the "consumer welfare standard".

This was back when they were in growth mode and still unprofitable, but it seems obvious with this and their now record profits that they no longer pass that test. Time to break it up.

Well I didn’t think that they LOST money using it!!

This is the best summary I could come up with:

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Amazon.com (AMZN.O) used a series of illegal strategies to boost profits at its online retail empire, including an algorithm that pushed up prices U.S. households paid by more than $1 billion, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission detailed in a new court filing on Thursday.

... Amazon used Project Nessie to extract more than a billion dollars directly from Americans' pocketbooks," the FTC said.

Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said the FTC "grossly mischaracterizes" the pricing tool and the company stopped using it several years ago.

Amazon paused the algorithm during its Prime Day sales events and the holiday shopping season when there was more media and customer attention on the online retailer, the FTC said.

The FTC called Nessie's algorithm an "unfair method of competition" because it manipulates other online stores into raising prices, allowing Amazon to do the same.

In the complaint, the FTC noted that Amazon does not allow other big online stores such as Walmart.com to sell on its platform.

The original article contains 661 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I feel like proprietary software should be open for auditing for reasons exactly like this.

aaah, innovation™

wow they might get a slap on the wrist and a 50 dollar fine for this.

"Amazon extracted $1 billion of wealth from Americans through secret price aising algorithm."