FTC Sues Amazon for “Tricking and Trapping” Users into Prime Subscriptions The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit against Amazon on 22 June, accusing the eCommerce giant of having duped millions of customers into subscribing to Amazon Prime without their consent. In a complaint filed with the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, the FTC alleged that Amazon used “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive userinterface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions”. The FTC claimed that Amazon also knowingly complicated the cancellation process to thwart customers from ending their Prime subscriptions. “Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan in a statement. A spokesperson for Amazon said that the FTC’s claims were “false on the facts and the law”, adding that the company looked forward to proving its case in court. “The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership,” the spokesperson said. The complaint comes less than a month after the FTC and DoJ charged Amazon for violation of child privacy laws by keeping recordings of children on Amazon’s Alexa voice-assistant service forever and for undermining deletion requests. Monthly Round-Up JULY 2023 8 LAWYER MONTHLY JULY 2023
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