The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday it has taken action against Amazon.com Inc. over the e-commerce giant's unfair practices behind its Prime subscription service.
The U.S. watchdog claimed the company had tricked customers into joining the service and made it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions in violation of the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act.
"Amazon has knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime," the FTC said in a statement.
Prime allows subscribers to benefit from free shipping and provides access to films and music on the network. While the company has not released information on the total number of people enrolled in the service, it revealed in the spring of 2021 that there were over 200 million members.
But the FTC accused the company of using a range of manipulative "dark patterns" in their business practices, such as failing to clearly present a button on their website allowing customers to choose not to subscribe to Prime, as well as forcing customers to go through multiple pages to cancel their subscriptions.
According to the FTC, Prime subscriptions account for $25 billion of Amazon's annual revenue.
Amazon denied the allegations and said it would prove its claims in court.
Subscriptions in the United States are available for a monthly fee of $14.99, or an annual $139. In Japan, the plan is available for 500 yen ($3.50) a month, or 4,900 yen a year.
