On May 25, Washington Attorney General Karl Racinefiled a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing it of violating competition laws. Specifically, Racine accuses the e-commerce of abusing its powerby prohibiting third-party sellers from offering their products cheaper on competing platforms, while also imposing exorbitant commissions that can reach up to 40% of the price.
Racine, in his lawsuit, claims that the rules imposed by Jeff Bezos have triggered a domino effect of increases in retail products across online commerce, which works to the detriment of consumers and sellers.
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The prosecutor said in a relevant post on Twitter : "Amazon exploits its dominant position in online sales to win at all costs. It maximizes its profits at the expense of third-party sellers and consumers, forcing them to pay fictitiously higher prices, while at the same time illegally harming competition and innovation around the world."
Amazon has already been targeted by EU competition authorities for its treatment of European merchants who use its platform to sell their products, but this is the first time it will face the same issue in the US.
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It is worth noting that the lawsuit in question focuses only on violations concerning the antitrust rules of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.), but given American law, it is certain that it will open the door to similar actions by prosecutors in other states, but probably also by the competent authorities at the federal level.
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In recent years, regulators have been investigating US tech giants – such as Google and Facebook – for antitrust issues. Google faced three separate such lawsuits, while Facebook is also facing legal action and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
