FTC ACCUSES AMAZON OF ENROLLING CONSUMERS INTO PRIME WITHOUT CONSENT AND MAKING IT HARD TO CANCEL

The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon for what it called a years-long effort to enroll consumers without consent into its Prime program and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the agency accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as “dark patterns,” to deceive consumers into enrolling in the program. It said the option to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime was more difficult in many cases. It also said that consumers were sometimes presented with a button to complete their transactions — and the button didn’t clearly state it was also enrolling them into Prime.

The regulatory agency, which is led by Big Tech critic Chair Lina Khan, also alleged the company’s leadership slowed or rejected changes that made canceling the subscription easier.

It said those patterns were in violation of the FTC Act and another law called the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence 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, such as free delivery and returns.