California Attorney General Rob Bonta requested a preliminary injunction against Amazon.com in state court, escalating a 3.5-year-old antitrust lawsuit. The state alleges Amazon inflates consumer prices by coercing merchants into agreements that prevent lower pricing on platforms like eBay, Target, or Walmart.
The injunction seeks to stop these anti-competitive practices before the trial begins in January 2027. Bonta’s office claims to have uncovered numerous instances of price-fixing agreements within the company's operations.
Amazon allegedly penalizes merchants who refuse to comply by revoking access to the Buy Box. This specific feature accounts for the majority of all sales on the platform. Amazon issued a statement calling the motion a distraction from the case's inherent weaknesses.