NEW YORK — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Amazon on Wednesday over what it called a years-long effort to enroll consumers without their consent in its Prime program and make it harder for them to cancel their subscriptions.
In a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, the agency accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as “dark patterns,” to trick consumers into signing up for the program. He said the option to buy items on Amazon without signing up for Prime was more difficult in many cases. He also said that consumers were sometimes presented with a button to complete their transactions, and the button did not clearly indicate that it was also enrolling them in Prime.
The regulatory agency, led by Big Tech critic Lina Khan, also alleged that the company’s leadership slowed down or pushed back on changes that made it easier to unsubscribe.
He said those employers violated the FTC Act and another law called the Restoring Trust for Online Shoppers Act.
Launched in 2005, Prime has more than 200 million members worldwide who pay $139 a year, or $14.99 a month, for faster shipping and other perks like free delivery and returns.
In a press release announcing the lawsuit, the FTC said that while its complaint is heavily worded, it contains “a number of allegations” that support its allegations against Amazon.
He also accused the company of trying to hinder the agency’s investigation into Prime, which began in 2021, in multiple cases.
“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them a lot of money,” Khan said in a statement. “These manipulation tactics harm both consumers and law-abiding businesses.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Amazon will pay the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) more than $30 million to resolve allegations of privacy lapses at its Alexa and Ring divisions, according to documents.
Amazon has faced intense regulatory scrutiny in recent years as it expands its e-commerce dominance and plunges into other markets, including groceries and healthcare.
In 2021, Amazon had unsuccessfully called for Khan to withdraw from separate antitrust investigations into his business, arguing that his public criticism of the company’s market power before joining the government prevents him from being impartial. Khan burst onto the antitrust scene in 2017 with his huge scholarly paper as a Yale law student, “The Amazon Antitrust Paradox.”
The lawsuit follows another Amazon-related victory by the agency just a few weeks ago. Earlier this month, Amazon agreed to pay a $25 million civil penalty to settle allegations that it violated a children’s privacy law by storing children’s voice and location data recorded by its popular Alexa voice assistant. It also agreed to pay $5.8 million in refunds to customers for alleged privacy violations related to its Ring doorbell camera.
