Lina Khan And Her White Whale: The FTC Takes On Amazon

The time-worn metaphor of the “white whale” relates to something one pursues with little chance of success, as seen in the case of Captain Ahab in Melville’s “Moby Dick.” Think of it as an obsession that dominates one’s thoughts and actions. Such is the case with Lina Khan, the chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission in her tenacious pursuit of Amazon
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. Many of us in academia have been waiting for this lawsuit to drop. Since Khan ultimately rose to antitrust fame due to her 2017 Yale Law Journal essay, Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.

On September 26, 2023, the FTC in conjunction with the attorneys general of 17 states, filed a long-awaited lawsuit against Amazon, alleging anti-competitive behavior in violation of federal antitrust laws. Filed in the Western District of Washington, the suit focuses primarily on Amazon’s Prime program, alleging the company used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user interface designs to trick consumers into enrolling while simultaneously complicating the process for cancelling the subscription.