Amazon accused of enrolling consumers into Prime without consent, making it hard to cancel

The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon for what it calls a yearslong effort to enroll consumers without consent into Amazon Prime and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions. The FTC accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as “dark patterns,” to deceive consumers into enrolling in Prime, which provides subscribers with perks such as faster shipping for an fee of $139 annually, or $14.99 a month.

In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the FTC said Amazon made it difficult for customers to purchase an item without also subscribing to Prime. In some cases, consumers were presented with a button to complete their transactions — which didn’t clearly state it would also enroll them in Prime. Getting out of a subscription was often too complicated, and Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would have made canceling easier, the complaint said.

The FTC argued that Amazon’s practices violated the FTC Act and another law called the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, which Amazon disputed. FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a prepared statement, “Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money. These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike.” 

Amazon spokesperson Heather Layman said in a statement, “The FTC’s claims are false on the facts and the law. The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership.”

In the first three months of 2023, Amazon reported it made $9.6 billion from subscriptions, a 17% jump from the same period last year. Prime was launched in 2005 and has more than 200 million members worldwide who are entitled to perks such as free delivery, returns and the streaming service Prime Video.

Last year, Amazon accused the FTC of harassing its executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, as the agency sought to get the company’s top brass to testify as part of the probe.

The lawsuit follows another Amazon-related win by the FTC a few weeks ago when Amazon agreed to pay a $25 million civil penalty to settle allegations it violated a child privacy law for storing kids’ voice and location data recorded by its popular Alexa voice assistant. It also agreed to pay $5.8 million in customer refunds for alleged privacy violations involving its doorbell camera Ring.