The existence of the algorithm, codenamed Nessie Project, was first revealed late last month in a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accusing the e-commerce giant of violating US antitrust law. According to the Journal, Nessie would inflate prices and monitor whether other retailers, such as Target, would do the same. If competing retailers kept the price lower, the algorithm would automatically revert Amazon’s price to its normal price.
Nessie allegedly helped the commerce platform increase its profits by artificially raising its prices in different shopping categories until the company stopped using it in 2019.
“We once again call on Amazon to act quickly to remove the redactions and allow the public to see the full scope of what we allege are its illegal monopolistic practices,” FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar said Tuesday.
Project Nessie is just one of many ways the FTC has accused Amazon of illegally maintaining its market dominance in the e-commerce industry. In the agency’s September complaint, the company is accused of using a variety of methods, such as burying listings, to discourage sellers from offering products at a lower price on competing platforms.