Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldThe US Federal Trade Commission has backtracked on a request to delay the trial in its high-profile case challenging Amazon\u2019s Prime service, rejecting its own lawyer\u2019s claim of resource constraints. An FTC lawyer on Wednesday asked a judge in a Seattle federal court to delay the start of the trial scheduled for September due to \u201cextremely severe resource shortfall in terms of money and personnel,\u201d according to US media reports.\u00a0\u201cThe resource constraints are severe and really unique to this moment,\u201d the lawyer added, only to reverse course mere hours later with a letter saying he was \u201cwrong\u201d, that the US regulator was \u201cfully prepared to litigate the case\u201d and would \u201cmeet whatever schedule and deadlines the court sets\u201d.\u00a0The volte-face comes as the US civil service has been hit hard by efforts to slash bureaucracy and government spending spearheaded by Elon Musk, whom US President Donald Trump has picked to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). The Trump administration in its first few months has rushed to lay off government workers and has sought to shut down entire federal agencies.Following the court hearing, FTC chair Andrew Ferguson said in a statement to the Financial Times that the agency\u2019s lawyer was \u201cwrong\u201d and renewed his pledge to clamp down on Big Tech\u2019s anti-competitive conduct.\u00a0\u201cI have made it clear since day one that we will commit the resources necessary for this case,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cThe Trump-Vance FTC will never back down from taking on Big Tech,\u201d he said, referring to vice-president JD Vance.Antitrust officials appointed by Trump, including Ferguson and Gail Slater, head of the Department of Justice\u2019s antitrust division, have signalled they will adopt a tough enforcement stance, including against the technology sector \u2014 a move that would sustain the competition policy pursued by their progressive predecessors during the Biden administration.In a lawsuit filed in June 2023, the FTC alleged that Amazon used \u201cdark patterns\u201d and deceptive design tactics to steer users to enrol in its Prime subscription service without their consent. It alleged that the company also complicated the cancellation process for subscribers who sought to end their membership.\u00a0Several months later, the agency filed a separate lawsuit claiming that Amazon runs a monopoly that seeks to \u201cinflate prices, degrade quality, and stifle innovation\u201d. This case is scheduled for trial in October 2026.Both FTC cases were brought by former chair Lina Khan, a Biden appointee, who came to public prominence as a 27-year-old with a now- famous paper in 2017 about the monopolistic risks posed by Amazon.\u00a0After the FTC filed its lawsuits, the ecommerce giant said the commission\u2019s approach reflected a \u201cfundamental misunderstanding of retail\u201d and that if the agency was successful it would undermine efforts to lower prices for consumers.\u00a0\u201cWe fundamentally disagree with the FTC\u2019s allegations \u2014 which are in many cases wrong or misleading \u2014 and with their overreaching and misguided approach to antitrust,\u201d said David Zapolsky, the company\u2019s chief legal officer, in 2023.\u00a0Amazon declined to comment on Wednesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldThe US Federal Trade Commission has backtracked on a request to delay the trial in its high-profile case challenging Amazon\u2019s Prime service, rejecting its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}