The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday sued Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) in Washington state federal court for violating consumer protection laws. The lawsuit alleges Amazon’s website knowingly “duped” millions of consumers into enrolling in Prime and then made it difficult for them to cancel.
Prime is Amazon’s paid subscription service that includes faster delivery and access to video streaming, songs, and other features. The service costs $139 per year.
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 said. It then knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers who sought to end their membership.
“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “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.”
Khan has led the FTC since 2021 and has taken on big tech multiple times with antitrust lawsuits against Meta (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Today’s lawsuit is the FTC’s first against Amazon under her leadership.