Today, the Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon for its Prime subscription service, which 168 million Americans have embraced for free shipping, video streaming and more.
For many reasons, it is troubling to see the FTC choose this path. There are new allegations of the agency’s rampant bias, potential perjury in Congress, and ethics problems. Chair Khan may wish to declare Amazon a monopoly, but market forces are proving otherwise; Amazon’s Prime subscriptions decreased in the U.S. last year, proving that consumers who no longer wish to use Prime can readily cancel their subscriptions.
But let us not forget: FTC Chair Lina Khan became famous because of her contempt for Amazon in particular.
“This lawsuit is absurd. The complaint is that Amazon encourages people to use Amazon Prime – this is like going after Kroger for promoting its rewards program or Costco for its membership club. It is abundantly clear that the FTC is a runaway agency in need of greater oversight,” said NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel Carl Szabo. “Congress must engage in robust oversight to rein in the FTC by cutting funding and investigating its ethical lapses and abuse of power.”
“This lawsuit is just the latest attempt by Khan to use the FTC, not for the purpose of protecting consumers, but to attack American businesses she doesn’t like. Moreover, this Amazon suit distracts attention from investigations into her and her fellow Democrat commissioners’ potential misdeeds.”
Ask anyone who has ever tried to cancel a Comcast subscription, and they will give you a horror story. SiriusXM tries to convince you to call them. With Amazon, canceling only takes a click of a button or a quick search.
Khan has been trying to kneecap Amazon since before she became FTC Chair. It’s hard to see this lawsuit as anything short of biased. But this time, she’s gambling with taxpayer dollars.
It’s time for Congress to investigate the FTC and Khan’s failure to recuse.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.