California Attorney General Rob Bonta released unsealed court documents on April 20, 2026, detailing allegations that Amazon.com Inc. systematically pressured vendors to inflate prices on competing retail websites. The filing, submitted to the San Francisco Superior Court, is part of an ongoing antitrust lawsuit initiated by the state in 2022. The new evidence suggests that the Seattle-based e-commerce giant leveraged its market dominance to prevent competitors, including Walmart Inc., from undercutting its prices through coercive agreements with third-party suppliers.
According to the unsealed documents, Amazon monitored prices across the internet and notified suppliers when their products were listed for less on other platforms. The Attorney General’s office alleges that Amazon demanded these vendors resolve the price discrepancies, often by pressuring the third-party retailers to increase their rates. If vendors failed to comply, Amazon reportedly imposed penalties such as removing the Buy Box from the product listing—a critical feature that allows customers to add items to their carts with one click—restricting promotional visibility, or suspending the vendor’s items from the Amazon marketplace entirely.
One specific instance cited in the filing involved the apparel company Levi Strauss & Co. and Walmart. The documents allege that Amazon identified khaki pants priced lower on Walmart’s website and contacted Levi Strauss to demand a correction. Following this communication, Levi Strauss reportedly contacted Walmart to request a price increase to $29.99 to align with Amazon’s pricing. The filing indicates that the price adjustment occurred the following day, illustrating what the state describes as a coordinated effort to stifle price competition and maintain Amazon's market share.
Attorney General Bonta is seeking a preliminary injunction to force Amazon to cease these practices immediately, ahead of a trial scheduled for 2027. The lawsuit argues that Amazon’s policies violate California’s Cartwright Act and the Unfair Competition Law by creating an artificial price floor across the retail industry. This legal action follows similar scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, which filed its own antitrust suit against Amazon in 2023, led by Chair Lina Khan, focusing on the company’s anti-discounting measures and their impact on the broader economy.
Amazon has consistently denied these allegations, maintaining that its pricing policies are designed to provide consumers with competitive prices and that it has the right to choose which products it features. However, the California filing contends that the company’s Most Favored Nation style clauses—even those rebranded after previous regulatory pressure—continue to coerce vendors into maintaining high prices elsewhere to avoid losing access to Amazon’s massive consumer base. The state maintains that these practices have resulted in higher prices for California consumers across multiple retail platforms.