Amazon sued by FTC after being accused of tricking customers into signing up for Prime

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Amazon for allegedly tricking its customers into signing up for Prime, “while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions”.

As IGN reports, the FTC has accused Amazon of using “dark patterns” to allegedly trick customers into automatically renewing their Prime subscriptions. It claims that the company has “knowingly” tricked millions.

“In many cases, the option to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime was more difficult for consumers to locate,” the FTC stated. “In some cases, the button presented to consumers to complete their transaction did not clearly state that in choosing that option, they were also agreeing to join Prime for a recurring subscription.”

It continued, accusing Amazon of making it challenging for customers to cancel their subscriptions: “The primary purpose of its Prime cancellation process was not to enable subscribers to cancel, but to stop them,” it alleged. “Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would’ve made it easier for users to cancel Prime because those changes adversely affected Amazon’s bottom line.”

However, in a statement released to IGN, one Amazon spokesperson called the FTC’s allegations “false on the facts and the law”, and stated that “the truth is that customers love Prime”.

“By design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership,” the Amazon spokesperson said. “As with all our products and services, we continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience, and we look forward to the facts becoming clear as this case plays out.”

Earlier this month, the FTC filed for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in order to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard, adding yet another roadblock to Microsoft’s plans. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also blocked the deal back in April.