The FTC sued Amazon after tricking millions of users into subscribing to the Prime
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The Federal Trade Commission claimed that Amazon used deceptive interface designs to increase subscriptions and prevent the cancellation of memberships by its customers.
This Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported on the lawsuit filed against the electronic commerce giant Amazon that, according to the entity, deceived millions of users into subscribing to the Prime service.
According to the FTC, the US company used psychological tricks against its customers “Amazon implemented manipulative, coercive or deceptive user interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to mislead consumers into signing up for auto-renewing Prime subscriptions,” the statement said.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington, where the FTC also challenged that Amazon allegedly made the unsubscribe process more difficult for users who wanted to drop their memberships.
Amazon, for its part, said the accusations against it are false, while also expressing concern that the FTC announced the lawsuit without prior notification. to the company “before we could have a dialogue with the commissioners themselves before filing a lawsuit. While the absence of that normal course commitment is extremely disappointing, we look forward to proving our case in court,” he said.
In 2021, the e-commerce giant had surpassed 200 million subscribers on Amazon Prime, generating millions of revenues for it while using its various practices to maintain and incentivize its users to spend more money and time on your platform.
Therefore, this FTC-led lawsuit against Amazon marks the start of a major campaign on the impact of technology platforms. Last month, the company was also involved in another lawsuit when it was found that its Alexa and Ring products violated the security and privacy of its customers, for which the company agreed to pay about $30 million.