Amazon steers consumers to higher-priced items, lawsuit claims

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company's logistics centre in Boves, France, October 6, 2021 REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

(Reuters) - Amazon.com was sued in a proposed U.S. class action accusing the online retailer of violating a consumer protection law by steering hundreds of millions of shoppers to higher-priced items in order to earn extra fees.

According to a complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Seattle, Amazon's algorithm for choosing what to display in its "Buy Box" when shoppers search for products often obscures lower-priced options with faster delivery times.