FTC sues Amazon over Prime enrollment, ‘cancellation trickery’

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint Wednesday against e-commerce giant Amazon for allegedly enrolling consumers into Amazon Prime without their consent and making it difficult to cancel Prime subscriptions.

Amazon used “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,” the FTC said in a press release announcing its lawsuit.

The commission’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleged Amazon made it more difficult for consumers not subscribed to Prime to purchase items, and in some cases, did not clearly state purchasing items would enroll them in Prime with recurring payments.