FTC Claims Amazon Dupes Consumers Into Prime Subscriptions

Amazon might be enrolling consumers in its Prime program without consent.

The FTC recently filed a complaint against Amazon, claiming that it enrolled consumers into its Prime program without them knowing and making the process of canceling their subscriptions difficult for them.

Amazon refutes the FTC's allegations against it, saying that its customers love Prime.

FTC-Amazon Lawsuit Details

The FTC mentioned in the lawsuit it filed in a federal court in Seattle that Amazon knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime using "manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as 'dark patterns'."

These UI designs allegedly enroll consumers in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions. This UI came in the presence or absence of buttons - some consumers noted that the button to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime was more difficult to locate.

Others said that the button consumers need to press to complete their transaction didn't clearly state they are agreeing to join Prime for a recurring subscription.

Additionally, the regulator claims that Amazon had knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers who sought to end their membership from its program, alleging that the Prime cancellation process was meant to stop them from canceling rather than enable them to do it.

Amazon did so by making the process of finding the cancellation flow for consumers difficult through a project code-named "Iliad." Once consumers locate it, they were redirected to multiple pages presenting several offers to continue their Prime subscription at a discounted price, to turn off the auto-renew feature instead, or to decide not to cancel outright.

If the consumer managed to get through these pages, then they can finally cancel their subscription to the program.

The FTC claims the company's leadership elected to slow or reject changes that could've made the cancellation process easier for consumers because their leaving would adversely affect Amazon's bottom line.

Aside from these claims, the FTC's lawsuit contains a number of allegations related to Amazon's decision not to make changes to prevent nonconsensual enrollment in Prime and the difficulties consumers faced in trying to unsubscribe from the program, though the court found the need to redact many of them in the lawsuit.

Amazon's Reaction To The Lawsuit

Amazon would later refute the allegations and claims the FTC made in its lawsuit. According to a Business Insider article, an Amazon spokesperson said the sign-up and cancellation process for Prime is simple, transparent, and clear - it presents consumers with choices and the implications of those choices.

Meanwhile, Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime, said that Amazon Prime made its signup and cancellation process clear and simple for consumers since customer transparency and trust are its "top priorities."

A Reuters report mentioned that Ghani said consumers love Prime and that Amazon finds it concerning that the regulator announced the lawsuit without it giving the company a heads-up during discussions with FTC staff members to ensure they understand the facts, context, and legal issues and before the company could have a dialog with the commissioners.