Federal Trade Commission targets Amazon’s Project Nessie in antitrust suit

The Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against Amazon centers on an internal pricing algorithm with a mythical name and very real consequences. Project Nessie, as Amazon employees called it, allegedly operated as a sophisticated system designed to identify products where competitors were likely to match an Amazon price increase, raise the price, and then hold it once rivals fell in line.

The FTC claims this tool extracted more than $1 billion in excess profits between 2014 and 2019, with some estimates stretching as high as $1.4 billion. Amazon says the tool was discontinued years ago and never worked the way the government describes. The trial is set for October 2026.

How Nessie allegedly worked

Project Nessie reportedly identified products where Amazon could raise prices with high confidence that competitors, many of whom use automated repricing software themselves, would follow suit. Once the rivals matched, Amazon kept the higher price in place.

In April 2018 alone, Nessie set prices for more than 8 million items that were viewed by shoppers over 400 million times.

According to court documents, the algorithm was toggled on and off at least eight times between 2015 and 2019. The agency alleges Amazon paused the system during periods of heightened regulatory scrutiny, then quietly switched it back on when attention shifted elsewhere.

Amazon paused Project Nessie in 2019, which happened to coincide with increasing antitrust interest from Congress and federal regulators. But internal documents reviewed in the case suggest the tool was reactivated during experiments as late as 2022, complicating Amazon’s claim that it was shelved years ago.

Amazon’s defense and the internal contradictions

Amazon has pushed back hard on the FTC’s characterization. The company argues that Nessie was designed to prevent unsustainable price drops in the marketplace. Amazon also maintains the tool was limited in function and was discontinued because it didn’t work effectively.

That narrative runs into some friction with Amazon’s own internal communications. FTC filings reference internal documents that characterized Nessie’s performance as “an incredible success.” Other records suggest Amazon leadership explored reviving the program even after it was officially shelved.

The broader regulatory landscape

The Nessie allegations sit within a much larger FTC complaint filed in September 2023 alongside 17 state attorneys general. The suit accuses Amazon of maintaining monopoly power in online retail through a range of anti-competitive practices, including penalizing sellers who offer lower prices on other platforms and degrading search results to favor its own products.

In March 2025, certain state consumer-protection claims specifically related to Nessie were dismissed. But the core federal antitrust claims remain intact and are headed to trial.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.