September, 26 2023, 02:05pm EDT
Landmark Antitrust Case Against Amazon Represents Crucial Moment Against Big Tech Monopolies
Today the Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general announced a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Amazon focused on the tech giant's monopolistic practices in the online marketplaces for consumers and small businesses.
In response to the announcement, Demand Progress Communications Director Maria Langholz issued the following statement:
"The lawsuit announced today by the FTC and 17 state attorneys general against Amazon is long overdue. Amazon has been shamelessly engaging in exclusionary and unfair tactics to trap third-party sellers in its own marketplaces, gouge them with predatory fees, and punish them for trying to offer lower prices to consumers. These monopolistic practices are enabling Amazon to strengthen its grip over ecommerce and enrich itself at everyone else's expense. We applaud the FTC for bringing this case to crack down on Amazon's abuses of its monopoly power.
"This marks a historic step in challenging Amazon's abuse of its market dominance and its anti-consumer, anti-worker, anti-small business practices. This lawsuit should further be a catalyst for a broader conversation about the need to break up Amazon as the best and most effective remedy.
"Again and again we have seen monopolistic corporations treat monetary fines for breaking the law like a rounding error and court-ordered prohibitions against their unlawful business practices as mere suggestions. As the world's largest online retailer with monopolistic hooks growing into related sectors, unfortunately Amazon is now just as famously becoming a model for companies on tricking consumers, treating workers unfairly, exploiting small businesses, and forcing out rivals with impunity."
Demand Progress amplifies the voice of the people -- and wields it to make government accountable and contest concentrated corporate power. Our mission is to protect the democratic character of the internet -- and wield it to contest concentrated corporate power and hold government accountable.
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The Corporate Transparency Act, a bipartisan effort, includes a rule that requires many corporations and limited liability companies to disclose information on who owns and controls a business entity (also known as the beneficial owner) to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department.
"Exciting news!" wrote Trump on Truth Social when announcing that the Treasury Department would no longer enforce the reporting rule, which he called "invasive and outrageous."
Garbiel Zucman, a professor of economics, reposted Trump's message on X, and wrote: "Exciting news for tax evasion and money laundering!"
Economist and author Anders Åslund reacted to the update writing, "to oppose corporate transparency is to favor corruption."
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"God, this is grim," weighed in author Oliver Bullough, who has written a book about global wealth and corruption. "The White House has killed the Corporate Transparency Act, which was itself a tiny first step in the marathon journey of stopping U.S. companies from being the most egregiously opaque shell structures on the planet."
In a Monday statement, Ian Gary, executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, called the move a "hollowing out" of the Corporate Transparency Act that runs counter to years of bipartisan work to "end the scourge of anonymous shell companies."
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The winner of the 2025 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film has been unable to obtain distribution in theaters or on streaming platforms in the U.S.—despite being the highest-grossing Oscar-nominated documentary in the rest of the world—but American viewers were able to hear directly from its filmmakers on Sunday night in speeches that condemned the U.S.-backed "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians.
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"Times are changing," said Hasan.
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Israel, which is set to receive $3 billion in weapons in a package approved by President Donald Trump last week, has forcibly displaced Palestinians from the West Bank since January, when a temporary cease-fire was reached in Gaza.
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