The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requested an extension from the court to proceed with its case against Amazon, citing severe resource constraints. However, just hours later, the agency reversed its decision.
In 2023, the FTC sued Amazon over allegedly deceptive practices related to its Prime program, including enrolling customers without consent and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions. An FTC attorney named Jonathan Cohen told the judge that the agency was facing “severe resource constraints” due to staff losses.
However, after media coverage of Cohen’s request, he later claimed that the FTC had sufficient resources and was fully prepared to litigate the case. A senior FTC official stated that Cohen acted “out of line” with his supervisors’ knowledge, and the agency is investigating the incident.
This episode suggests that the FTC may struggle to meet its responsibilities or become more selective in its enforcement efforts. The agency has been facing challenges due to staff losses and has recently cut a dozen staffers. It remains unclear whether these changes will affect the FTC’s approach to antitrust law enforcement.
Despite this, President Trump’s new FTC chair Andrew Ferguson is expected to continue enforcing regulations against Big Tech companies, including Microsoft. Ferguson provided guidance to big business CEOs on Tuesday, stating that he would not allow proposed deals to “die on the vine” but warned them of limited automatic approval for large mergers.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2025/03/13/ftc-backtracks-resources-amazon