Amazon Sued by FTC for Allegedly Tricking Customers into Signing Up for Prime

The FTC is suing Amazon for allegedly enrolling customers to subscribe to Prime “without their consent while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions to Prime”. 

In a complaint filed today, the FTC accused Amazon of “knowingly” duping millions of consumers into signing up for Amazon Prime. More specifically, the FTC elaborated on how Amazon used “dark patterns” that tricked customers into automatically renewing a subscription to Prime, noting that during the checkout process, the company made it difficult for consumers to locate the button to finish purchasing an item in their cart.

“In many cases, the option to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime was more difficult for consumers to locate,” the FTC explained. “In some cases, the button presented to consumers to complete their transaction did not clearly state that in choosing that option, they were also agreeing to join Prime for a recurring subscription.”

“The primary purpose of its Prime cancellation process was not to enable subscribers to cancel.”

The FTC also accused Amazon of making it challenging for customers to cancel their subscriptions to Prime. “The primary purpose of its Prime cancellation process was not to enable subscribers to cancel, but to stop them,” the press release reads. “Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would’ve made it easier for users to cancel Prime because those changes adversely affected Amazon’s bottom line.”

“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,” said an Amazon spokesperson in an email sent to IGN. “As with all our products and services, we continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience, and we look forward to the facts becoming clear as this case plays out.”

In recent years the FTC has cracked down on companies that exhibit “dark pattern” behavior that companies used to make it difficult to cancel some subscription services. A recent example of this includes the agency fining Epic Games more than $500 million last year, claiming the developer “tricked” players into making unintentional purchases in its popular free-to-play battle royale Fortnite. 

The announcement of the FTC taking legal action against Amazon over its dark patterns comes less than a day after Amazon officially announced the dates for Prime Day 2023. The annual event provides discounts across various items and categories, with all the deals and discounts exclusive to those subscribed to Amazon Prime.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.