Amazon allegedly 'tricked' millions into Prime subscriptions, to face US trial
FTC has accused the company of duping millions of customers into signing up for its Prime subscription service and making cancellations deliberately difficult.
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Amazon will go on trial next month in the United States after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused the company of duping millions of customers into signing up for its Prime subscription service and making cancellations deliberately difficult. The case marks Amazon’s first major courtroom battle with the regulator and is expected to run for about a month, according to a Gizmodo report.
What Amazon is accused of
In court filings earlier this month, the FTC claimed, “Millions of consumers accidentally enrolled in Prime without knowledge or consent, but Amazon refused to fix this known problem, described internally by employees as an ‘unspoken cancer’ because clarity adjustments would lead to a drop in subscribers.”
The agency further alleged that Amazon designed its cancellation system—known internally as “Iliad” as a deliberate obstacle. The filing described the cancellation flow as “a labyrinthian mechanism that Defendants know deters consumers from cancelling or misleads consumers into believing they successfully cancelled Prime when they in fact did not.”
The lawsuit, originally filed two years ago under FTC chair Lina Khan, also names three Amazon executives: Jamil Ghani, Neil Lindsay and Russell Grandinetti. The FTC accuses them of rolling back fixes that made the enrolment process clearer because subscriptions had declined. A federal judge has already ruled that two of the executives could be held personally liable if Amazon loses the case.
Amazon’s response
Amazon has denied all allegations. A company spokesperson said as per Gizmodo that neither Amazon nor the individual defendants did anything wrong, and they are confident that the facts will show these executives acted properly and they always put customers first.
The FTC argues that Amazon relied on “dark patterns”—design strategies that manipulate users into taking unintended actions—both to drive sign-ups and to obstruct cancellations. Regulators say such practices breach US consumer protection laws.
The stakes are significant. Amazon Prime generated more than $44 billion in subscription revenue last year, meaning the trial’s outcome could have implications far beyond the company itself, potentially influencing how subscription-based businesses design their platforms.
