The FTC has just announced a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon over what it called “misleading” practices related to Prime subscriptions. Here are the details.
Amazon Prime settlement estimated to benefit 35 million affected consumers
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced back in 2023 that it was investigating Amazon over “enrolling consumers in Amazon Prime without consent and sabotaging their attempts to cancel.”
Two years later, the FTC and Amazon have just reached a “historic” $2.5 billion settlement as a penalty for Amazon “knowingly misleading” millions of consumers.
The historic monetary judgment contained in the settlement is only the third ROSCA case in which the FTC has obtained a civil penalty. It includes:
- a $1 billion civil penalty, which is the largest ever in a case involving an FTC rule violation;
- $1.5 billion in consumer redress, providing full relief for the estimated 35 million consumers impacted by unwanted Prime enrollment or deferred cancellation. This is the second-highest restitution award ever obtained by FTC action.
Per the FTC, Amazon “created confusing and deceptive user interfaces to lead consumers to enroll in Prime without their knowledge.” The company also “created a complex and difficult process for consumers seeking to cancel their Prime subscription.”
These allegations were reportedly backed up by internal Amazon communications:
Amazon documents discovered in the lead up to trial showed that Amazon executives and employees knowingly discussed these unlawful enrollment and cancellation issues, with comments like “subscription driving is a bit of a shady world” and leading consumers to unwanted subscriptions is “an unspoken cancer.”
Top comment by krazygreekguy
Their service has continued to deteriorate. 2 day shipping for orders repeatedly get delayed. I’ve also had packages delivered with no packaging and fully exposed. When I called customer service, they confirmed it’s part of their new policy to reduce waste.
I’m all for reducing waste and helping the environment, but anyone with a brain knows the real reason is to cut costs and corners. Packages are getting damaged and far more vulnerable to theft this way.
They also added ads to their streaming service in the middle of people’s subscriptions to Prime. Absolutely disgusting. They should be held accountable, or at the very least prorate people’s subscriptions for that.
The value of Prime just continues to get worse and worse. And don’t even get me started on pushing their AI slop “customer service” and making it even more difficult to reach a human.
These corporations are out of control and out of touch with reality.
So far, there are no details on how affected users can file to get a piece of the $1.5 billion consumer redress. But that information should be forthcoming from Amazon in the near future.
Update: Amazon spokesperson Mark Blafkin shared the following statement with 9to5Mac:
“Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers. We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world. We will continue to do so, and look forward to what we’ll deliver for Prime members in the coming years.”
Did you get enrolled in Amazon Prime against your knowledge, or have a hard time canceling? Let us know in the comments.
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