Amazon has been accused by the US of misleading people into signing up for Prime subscriptions that automatically renew and making it tough to cancel.

The allegations were made in a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer rights watchdog.

It referred to purportedly “manipulative” internet layouts.

The claims were dismissed by Amazon, which referred to them as “false on the facts and the law.”

Over 200 million people worldwide are Prime subscribers. The programme costs $139 a year or $14.99 a month in the US and £95 a year in the UK. It includes shipping benefits, access to streaming films and other advantages.

According to the FTC, Amazon employed website layouts that pressured users to sign up for Prime and have their subscriptions renew automatically when they made purchases.

Because “those changes would also negatively affect Amazon’s bottom line”, the agency claimed in the complaint, which was filed in federal court in Seattle, the corporation tried to make it impossible for consumers to opt out of auto-enrolment.

The FTC said that Amazon subjected consumers who wanted to cancel to a lengthy “four-page, six-click, fifteen option” procedure that was internally referred to as “Iliad” in honour of the Greek classic about the “long, arduous Trojan War”.

The FTC claimed that while Amazon changing the cancellation process just before the lawsuit was filed, the company’s methods violated regulations meant to safeguard consumers.

According to FTC Chair Lina Khan, “Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, frustrating users and costing them significant money.”

The FTC is requesting both a court order requiring Amazon to alter its practises and unspecified monetary penalties.

Amazon claimed that when the case was unexpectedly filed, it was in the middle of resolving the problems with the agency.

Customers adore Prime, and we intentionally make it easy and simple for them to join up for or cancel their membership, according to the business.

Online businesses have received many warnings from the FTC not to use “dark patterns” to trick customers.

Since 2021, it had been looking into the Amazon Prime scheme.

It said that the business had repeatedly tried to stall the investigation, including by failing to submit documents on time.

Insider Intelligence senior analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf claimed that the FTC was “making an example of Amazon” by doing this.

She noted that it was typical for businesses to make it more challenging to cancel an account than it is to open one.

vigourous policing

President Joe Biden selected Ms. Khan to her position, and she gained notoriety for criticising US competition law in relation to Amazon.

She has pledged to act more firmly to check internet sales and the influence of American IT corporations.

The case represents the third FTC action against Amazon in recent weeks.

In order to resolve allegations that it had broken child privacy regulations by retaining recordings made by kids on Alexa, the corporation agreed to pay $25 million last month.

It agreed to pay an additional $5.8 million to settle allegations that Ring, the doorbell business Amazon bought in 2018, had broken privacy laws by granting workers unlimited access to customer footage and failed to take security measures against hackers.

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