California sues Amazon for alleging antitrust violations

California has filed a lawsuit accusing Amazon of using its market influence to prevent merchants from offering buyers better deals elsewhere online, in violation of state antitrust law.

According to the lawsuit, Amazon used contract provisions to effectively bar third-party sellers and wholesale suppliers from offering lower prices for products on non-Amazon sites, including on their own websites. That, in turn, harms the ability of other retailers to compete.

Seattle-based Amazon controls roughly 38% of online sales in the U.S., more than that of Walmart, eBay, Apple, Best Buy and Target combined.

About 2 million sellers list their products on Amazon's third-party marketplace, accounting for 58% of the company's retail sales.

Amazon has said in the past that sellers set their own prices on the platform. It has also said it has the right to avoid highlighting products that are not priced competitively.

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