FTC backtracks on claim that it lacks resources for Amazon case

The Federal Trade Commission yesterday asked a court for extra time before proceeding on a case against Amazon, claiming its resources are too constrained, before reversing course just hours later.

Why it matters: This suggests that the FTC may struggle to meet its responsibilities, including enforcing antitrust law, or at least could become more selective.

Catch up quick: The FTC in 2023 sued Amazon for allegedly enrolling customers in its Prime program without consent and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions. In short, a deceptive practices case, as Axios' Ashley Gold and I report.

• Yesterday, an FTC attorney named Jonathan Cohen told the judge overseeing the case: "Our resource constraints are severe and really unique to this moment. We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on the case team."
• Later in the case, after media coverage of Cohen's request for a trial delay, he fell on his sword, saying: "The commission does not have resource constraints and we are fully prepared to litigate this case."

Behind the scenes: A senior FTC official tells Axios that Cohen was "going rogue," and that his supervisors were unaware of his delay request before it was made. The agency is said to be investigating what happened.

• At the same time, however, the FTC — which already had a reputation for being under-resourced — has lost some personnel from DOGE's "fork in the road" resignation offer and cut a dozen staffers on its own.

• It's unclear if DOGE itself has been inside the FTC, but Elon Musk has directed FTC staff to soon move into USAID offices, while also rendering government-issued credit cards ineffective.

The bottom line: Trump's FTC is widely expected to keep Big Tech's feet to the fire, including by continuing to pursue its case against Microsoft, so this episode likely reflects internal strife more than a directional change.