A complaint filed against Amazon.com Inc. by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges the U.S. multinational technology company “has knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in its Amazon Prime service.”
Filed June 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the complaint alleges that “Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions.”
The FTC alleges that Amazon’s causing of consumers to enroll in Amazon Prime without their consent violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, a news release said. Amazon also allegedly made it difficult for consumers to cancel Prime.
Known as Amazon Prime, the paid subscription gives users more services such as “same, one- or two-day delivery of goods and streaming music, video, e-books, gaming and grocery shopping services,” the company said.
In April 2021, Amazon Prime had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.
“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in the release. “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike. The FTC will continue to vigorously protect Americans from ‘dark patterns’ and other unfair or deceptive practices in digital markets.”
Subscriptions to Prime cost users $139 per year or $14.99 monthly, the complaint said.
“Prime subscription fees account for $25 billion of Amazon’s annual revenue. Approximately 70% of Amazon’s revenue comes from American consumers,” the complaint said.
The redacted complaint addresses several allegations, including Amazon's failure to prevent nonconsensual enrollment in Prime and the challenges consumers faced when attempting to unsubscribe.
It states that Amazon employed the “dark patterns” during the online checkout process, making it more difficult for consumers to opt out of Prime subscriptions while purchasing items.
The complaint accuses Amazon of implementing a cancellation process designed to deter consumers from successfully unsubscribing, a process that involved multiple steps, redirection to pages with offers to continue the subscription and confusing tactics.
It also alleges “that Amazon attempted to delay and hinder the commission’s investigation in multiple instances.”
Reuters reported that Amazon released a statement saying, “Customers love Prime, and, by design, we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership.”
According to Reuters, Amazon added that it finds "it concerning that the FTC announced this lawsuit without notice to us, in the midst of our discussions with FTC staff members to ensure they understand the facts, context and legal issues, and before we were able to have a dialog with the commissioners themselves.”
