Amazon and Google Get LITT Up… FTC Blasts Their Ad Auctions as a Rigged Carnival Game

If you thought Suits ended when Harvey walked away (and Rachel decided to sabotage the entire Royal Family), think again. The Louis Litt of regulators (FTC) just marched into Amazon and Google’s offices with subpoenas in hand, with all the energy of: “You’ve been catfishing advertisers, and we’ve got the receipts.”

According to people familiar with the matter (some poor bastard leaking so they don’t get subpoenaed themselves), the FTC’s consumer protection unit is investigating whether Amazon and Google properly disclosed the terms and pricing for ads (they probably didn’t). Now, if you’re not a media buyer who spends all day refreshing campaign dashboards, here’s how this circus works. Both Amazon and Google run ad auctions that make Robinhood’s meme-stock casino look like church bingo. A user types “best vacuum," and within milliseconds, algorithms launch an invisible bidding war between brands desperate to snag that coveted top spot.

So where’s the problem? Well, the FTC says these companies may have hidden little nuggets like “reserve pricing”... minimum bid floors that advertisers weren’t exactly aware of. Think of it like going to an auction, raising your paddle for $50, and the auctioneer saying, “Congrats, but actually you had to pay $75… we just didn’t mention that part.”

For Amazon, this matters because its ad business is massive ($56 billion last year. Sponsored listings, video ads, display ads) all of it has quietly turned Amazon from an e-commerce company into a digital advertising machine. Google, for its part, was already caught in court admitting it “tweaked” ad auctions to hit revenue targets. Executives flat-out testified that they raised ad prices without telling advertisers. Imagine your landlord jacking up rent 10% mid-lease and saying, “Oh yeah, we do this sometimes. Don’t worry about it.”

Advertisers, of course, aren’t filing for bankruptcy over this. But when Google and Amazon quietly juice the math, it turns the whole ecosystem into a rigged carnival game. Brands pass those costs down the line, which means you and I end up footing the bill when our dog’s already crazy priced kibble magically costs $2 more than last week.

(Source: Reuters)

This isn’t happening in a vacuum, either. The DOJ has already found Google guilty of maintaining illegal monopolies in search and advertising tech, and states like Texas are piling on with their own lawsuits. Amazon is no stranger to heat, either… it’s already being dragged into court over accusations that sellers are forced to buy ads just to show up in basic search results. (Oh, you wanted customers to actually see your Fabletic’s copycat pants on Amazon? That’ll be $9.99, buddy.)

At this point, the ad dollars themselves are a rounding error for companies of this size (both companies combined are worth over $5 trillion). What matters is whether regulators can show a pattern of deception. Because once you cross from “aggressive business practice” into “we straight-up hustled our own customers,” you’re not fighting lawsuits anymore… you’re fighting to keep the narrative around your business model from collapsing. 

And let’s be real, Amazon could probably get indicted on live TV and two hours later half the country would still be hitting “Buy Now” on paper towels. The only real boycott you’ll see is a Facebook post from Karen about corporate greed, which she’ll type out while pulling her latest Prime order out of the box.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon, Google, Robinhood, and Meta as mentioned in the article.