Amazon has agreed to pay a $2.5 billion settlement after the FTC accused it of deceptive practices in Prime subscriptions, including tricking customers into signing up for more expensive plans and making cancellations difficult. Customers affected since 2019 can receive up to $51 in refunds, and Amazon is required to improve transparency and ease of cancellation. The FTC's largest civil penalty involves Amazon's violations of consumer protection rules.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the company of using "dark patterns" to deceive customers with auto-renewal of their Amazon Prime subscriptions. The FTC claims Amazon has "duped millions of consumers" into unknowingly enrolling in Prime subscriptions and knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers seeking to end their membership. The FTC argues the primary function of the Amazon Prime cancellation process is not to allow cancellation, but to prevent members from being able to cancel. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
