Washington sues Amazon, alleging its policies lead to higher online prices everywhere

Washington, D.C.'s attorney general is suing Amazon on antitrust grounds, claiming the world's largest online retailer artificially inflates product prices online through the agreements it imposes on smaller sellers.

In a lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia court Tuesday, Attorney General Karl Racine takes aim at the e-commerce giant's contract provisions with third-party sellers, alleging they break the District's anti-monopoly laws. Until 2019, Amazon banned sellers on its platform from selling items for a lower price outside of Amazon. That year, under increased scrutiny from lawmakers, Amazon changed its policy from an outright ban on lower prices elsewhere to a warning that companies who did offer lower prices outside of Amazon's platform could be demoted or banned from selling there, according to the suit.