FTC & 22 STATES TO SUE $AMZN OVER ALLEGED SECRET AD PRICE HIKES The FTC is expected to allege Amazon manipulated its ad auctions by inserting its own “soft reserve” bid above the runner-up bid, effectively raising the minimum price advertisers had to pay. The practice allegedly began in 2018 and generated tens of billions of dollars over seven years. In recent years, Amazon allegedly used the mechanism to raise the minimum bid 70-80% of the time, with the FTC claiming it pushed pay-per-click costs up as much as 50% on major shopping days. Amazon generated $68B in advertising revenue in 2025. The case would be the FTC’s third major action against the company, following its Prime case and the ongoing monopoly lawsuit.