Amazon has been sued by the Federal Trade Commission over its Prime service, Fox News reports. The government alleges that Amazon has tricked consumers into subscribing to their paid service, and difficult to cancel.
Amazon Prime is a $139/year service that gives users free shipping on a large selection of products. It also provides a video and music streaming service as well as other perks.
The FTC’s accusation relies on what it calls “dark patterns.” Those patterns are an accumulation of user experience that confuse or obfuscate consumer choice. One example is Amazon offering a free trial by default on all Amazon purchases, hoping that users will eventually forget to refuse the offer and become subscribed.
Prime is a cornerstone of Amazon’s business model. It relies on giving users the option to make many small purchases rather than few large ones, increasing its overall sales. By tying the user to the Amazon ecosystem, Amazon also hopes that consumers purchase hardware, such as Kindles, making the decision to cancel that much more difficult.
This comes at a critical time for Amazon, which is about to launch another “Prime Day” in mid July. Those days are replete with deals and savings which are only accessible if a user has a Prime membership. Whether this lawsuit eventually ends Amazon’s practices or even offers compensation to those who unwittingly subscribed to Prime remains to be seen.
