WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission unleashed a wave of enforcement actions last week, highlighted by a major antitrust lawsuit accusing Zillow and Redfin of striking an illegal agreement to suppress competition in the online rental advertising market.
The lawsuit alleges Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to abandon its role as a rival in the market for multifamily rental listings, effectively turning Redfin’s websites into duplicates of Zillow’s. The FTC claims the deal harmed property managers and renters by stifling competition, raising prices, and reducing innovation.
“Paying off a competitor to stop competing against you is a violation of federal antitrust laws,” said Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “This arrangement eliminates competition in an already concentrated market critical to renters and property owners alike.”
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeks to unwind the agreement and could lead to divestitures or structural changes to restore competition.
The Zillow-Redfin case was one of several high-profile enforcement moves the FTC announced last week. The agency also charged Los Angeles-based app developer Iconic Hearts Holdings, operator of the “Sendit” messaging app, with illegally collecting children’s data and deceiving users with fake messages to push paid subscriptions.
Separately, the FTC secured multimillion-dollar settlements with business data giant Dun & Bradstreet — fined $5.7 million for violating a 2022 order — and Citizens Disability, which will pay $1 million after making more than 100 million illegal telemarketing calls, including to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry.
In addition, the FTC reaffirmed its close international ties, hosting Japan’s Fair Trade Commission in Washington for antitrust consultations, and rejected an appeal from Quantum Energy Partners seeking to overturn restrictions on its $5.2 billion deal with EQT Corporation.
The flurry of actions underscores what FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson called a “renewed era of accountability” in digital markets, consumer protection, and corporate compliance. “These cases demonstrate that no company — large or small — is above the law,” Ferguson said.
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