It’s about Amazon Prime, which Amazon customers can use for a fee, including faster, free shipping. In the US, Prime members pay $139 a year for it, which is roughly €127, which is a significant portion of the webshop’s income. The service has more than 200 million members worldwide.
“Amazon deceived people and trapped them into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users, but costing them big money,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle, the FTC alleges that Amazon “used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive interface designs, known as “dark patterns,” to entice consumers to sign up for auto-renewing Prime subscriptions.”
Amazon said in its response that customers absolutely love Prime. The online store states that it is “clear and simple” for customers to “sign up for Prime membership and cancel their membership”. Furthermore, Amazon finds it “disturbing” that the FTC would file a lawsuit “without notifying us.”
It’s not the FTC’s first lawsuit against Amazon. The online store recently agreed to pay $30.8 million to settle two privacy lawsuits. One of the two cases is about Ring’s video doorbell, and the other is about the Alexa smart speaker.
