The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has lodged a formal complaint against Amazon, alleging that the popular e-commerce company deliberately misled millions of customers by enrolling them into Prime membership without their knowledge or consent, and then making it challenging for them to cancel their subscriptions.
According to the FTC, Amazon employed manipulative and deceptive user interface designs, commonly referred to as “dark patterns,” to deceive consumers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime memberships. These practices involved tactics aimed at tricking customers and coercing them into unwittingly enrolling in the subscription service.
FTC Chair Lina Khan expressed that Amazon engaged in deceptive tactics that resulted in people being ensnared in recurring subscriptions without their consent, causing frustration among users and inflicting substantial financial losses.
According to the FTC, Amazon intentionally created complexities in the cancellation process for Prime members who wished to end their subscription. The FTC alleged that Amazon’s primary objective was not to facilitate cancellations, but to hinder them. Additionally, Amazon’s leadership is accused of deliberately obstructing or rejecting changes that would have simplified the cancellation process, as such changes would have negatively impacted the company’s financial performance.
FTC Chair Lina Khan emphasized that these manipulative tactics have adverse effects on both consumers and law-abiding businesses. The FTC further explained that during the online checkout process, customers were presented with multiple opportunities to subscribe to Amazon Prime, while the option to make purchases without subscribing to Prime was intentionally made more difficult to find.
In certain instances, the button used by consumers to complete the checkout process did not clearly indicate that by selecting that option, they were also agreeing to join Prime for a recurring subscription.
The FTC alleged that Amazon imposed unnecessary and multiple steps on customers when attempting to unsubscribe from the program.
