United Kingdom, Sept. 1 -- Amazon secretly overcharged more than a million advertising customers by manipulating the online auctions used to set ad prices, according to a lawsuit filed by US regulators and 22 states.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges that the scheme generated around $20 billion (£14.8 billion) in additional revenue for Amazon since 2019.

The complaint states: "Amazon overrides and replaces the actual auction results with higher prices set by Amazon to increase its profits."

The lawsuit was filed on Monday (31.08.26) in Washington state, where Amazon is headquartered.

It also claims shoppers have been harmed because higher advertising costs can ultimately be passed on through product prices.

The compl...