The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken a decisive step against Amazon.com, Inc., filing a complaint that accuses the e-commerce giant of enrolling consumers into its Prime program without their consent while deliberately making it arduous for them to cancel their subscriptions.
The FTC's complaint, submitted recently, asserts that Amazon knowingly deceived millions of consumers by employing manipulative and coercive user-interface designs, referred to as "dark patterns," to trick them into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions.
Additionally, the complaint alleges that Amazon deliberately complicated the process of canceling Prime memberships for subscribers attempting to end their participation. Instead of facilitating cancellations, Amazon's main objective was to impede them. The company's leadership deliberately obstructed or delayed changes that would have streamlined the cancellation process, as these alterations would have negatively impacted Amazon's financial performance.
FTC Chair Lina M. Khan stated, "Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, frustrating users and costing them significant money. These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike. The FTC will continue vigorously protecting Americans from 'dark patterns' and other unfair or deceptive practices in digital markets."
Currently, significant portions of the FTC's complaint have been redacted. However, the FTC has informed the court that ongoing secrecy is unnecessary. The complaint includes various allegations regarding Amazon's decision to forego implementing changes to prevent nonconsensual enrollment in Prime, as well as the obstacles faced by consumers seeking to unsubscribe from the service. Specifically, the complaint asserts that Amazon violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act by employing "dark patterns" to ensnare consumers into Prime without their consent.
Throughout the online checkout process on Amazon's platform, consumers encountered multiple prompts to subscribe to Amazon Prime at a monthly fee of $14.99. In many instances, the option to purchase items without subscribing to Prime was intentionally made less conspicuous for consumers. Furthermore, the button presented to complete the transaction did not explicitly state that choosing that option also meant agreeing to join Prime through a recurring subscription.
The FTC claims that Amazon implemented a cancellation process designed to discourage consumers from successfully unsubscribing from Prime. Previous media reports have highlighted this process, describing Amazon's use of the term "Iliad," which alludes to Homer's epic poem that spans 24 books and nearly 16,000 lines, recounting the decade-long Trojan War.
According to the complaint, consumers faced multiple hurdles when canceling their Prime membership. Initially, they had to locate the cancellation flow, which Amazon intentionally made challenging. Once they found the cancellation flow, they were redirected to multiple pages offering various options, such as continuing the subscription at a discounted price, disabling the auto-renew feature, or deciding against cancellation. Only after navigating through these pages could consumers finally cancel the service.
The complaint asserts that Amazon's executives were aware of consumers being involuntarily enrolled and the complexities surrounding the cancellation process, yet failed to take meaningful action to address these issues until the FTC initiated an investigation. Furthermore, the FTC alleges that Amazon made multiple attempts to delay and hinder the Commission's investigation.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington following a 3-0 vote by the Commission authorizing the staff to proceed with legal action. The court will ultimately decide the case.
The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection handles the matter, with staff attorneys Jonathan Cohen, Olivia Jerjian, Max Nardini, and Evan Mendelson leading the effort.
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