Amazon has established its dominance in the book market. This raised concerns among publishers and the government. This led to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in September 2023 against Amazon, with the backing of 17 states.

According to the lawsuit, Amazon's business approach prevents competitors and sellers from reducing prices, harms the quality of products for customers, charges sellers too much, hinders innovation, and obstructs fair competition from other companies.

Lina Khan, the FTC chairperson, has been bold in challenging big American companies to make sure they play fair. Khan's recent case targets Amazon, a company she studied closely in law school. In a paper she wrote, Khan argued that we must look beyond prices and consider how a big company's power affects the whole market. This case is significant for her and the agency as they try to ensure fairness and competition in the business world. 

Amazon makes about $28 billion a year from selling books globally. It controls more than half of the printed book market and over four-fifths of the e-book market. This powerful position makes publishers, even major ones like Hachette and Penguin Random House, vulnerable because Amazon has a history of punishing those who go against its requests.

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The FTC and the states claim that Amazon employs various unfair and anti-competitive tactics, which help it unlawfully keep its monopoly status. Amazon's tactics include removing the "buy" button from book listings, delaying shipments, claiming items are out of stock, and rejecting pre-sales for new releases. These actions have severe consequences, as seen in the case of Hachette in 2014 when its sales plummeted by 18% due to a dispute with Amazon.

Beyond affecting revenues and reputations, Amazon's control over the book market fosters a profit-centric monoculture, limiting diversity and stifling the free exchange of ideas. The company's historical practices, such as avoiding sales taxes and selling titles at a loss, further demonstrate its willingness to exploit legal loopholes to secure a competitive edge.

Amazon's current strategy involves pressuring publishers for deep discounts. This predatory approach harms suppliers, threatens competition, and has contributed to the closure of over 50% of bookstores in the United States between 1998 and 2019.

In December last year, Amazon sought the dismissal of the case. Amazon argues that the FTC is attacking policies that benefit consumers. The company insists that the practices the FTC labels as anti-competitive are usual ways of doing business that help consumers by offering competitive prices. Amazon also denies allegations that it uses tactics to predict and raise prices on its platform.

To address these concerns, federal and state antitrust enforcers have the legal authority to challenge Amazon's unfair practices. The FTC's lawsuit in 2023 is a positive step, but a more comprehensive approach is needed. Regulators can promote a more diverse publishing and bookselling environment by utilizing existing antitrust laws like the Robinson-Patman Act and focusing on discriminatory discounts.

This antitrust action against Amazon should be part of a broader initiative, similar to the approach taken against Google, to ensure fair competition in the book market. By protecting publishers and authors from predatory practices, antitrust measures can safeguard their essential role as curators and producers of ideas and expression.

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