"FTC Sues Amazon, Accusing Retail Giant Of Monopolizing Online Markets"
October 02, 2023
So now the antitrust agencies are in court against both Amazon and Google, two companies that make my life better on a weekly, even daily, basis. I sincerely hope that they get clobbered in both cases.
One might ask, why is Amazon such a target? As dominant as it is in online retail, it is not a monopoly. And it is just one of many players in overall retail. Consumers value Amazon and its Prime delivery. A recent Harris/Harvard poll showed that in 2021 the most trusted institution was the U.S. military. Amazon came in second. So why this obsession?
As Robert H. Bork Jr writes, Amazon is a target precisely because it is a consumer-friendly company par excellence: low prices, enormous selection, rapid delivery, combining value from music and movies to hair dryers and outdoor furniture.
See also "FTC Chair Lina Khan’s mission to destroy Amazon will harm millions of consumers".
Related, on the Google case:
"The government's weak antitrust case against Google".