FTC alleged that

Amazon

was misleading customers by making the entire cancellation process of the Prime subscription overly complex. The online shopping giant

misled customers by

signing them up for the

Prime membership

without consent. We now have an update on this. FTC has

announced

a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon over “misleading” practices related to Prime subscriptions.

Amazon Prime settlement will benefit 35 million affected users

The US FTC announced an investigation into Amazon in 2023 over “enrolling consumers in Amazon Prime without consent and sabotaging their attempts to cancel.” This has now finally reached a $2.5 billion settlement. This includes a $1 billion civil penalty, which is apparently the largest ever in a case involving an FTC violation.

Furthermore, it’s estimated that around 35 million consumers are impacted by unwanted Prime enrollment or deferred cancellation. They get $1.5 billion in consumer redress. However, it’s not clear how affected users can file for a piece of the $1.5 billion over Amazon Prime misleading settlement.

Amazon needs to make changes to the Prime enrollment process

The FTC allegations were backed by Amazon’s internal documents, which were discovered in the lead-up to the trial. These apparently showed that Amazon executives and employees knowingly discussed these unlawful enrollment and cancellation issues, with comments like “subscription driving is a bit of a shady world” and leading consumers to unwanted subscriptions is “an unspoken cancer.”

The FTC settlement requires the

tech

giant, Amazon, to make changes to the Prime enrollment and cancellation processes. What this means is that Amazon should include a “clear and conspicuous” button for customers to decline Prime. It requires that Amazon can no longer have a “no, I don’t want free shipping” button. Amazon also needs to create an easy way for consumers to cancel Prime.

Amazon spokesperson Mark Blafkin,

in a statement

to 9to5Mac, said, “Amazon and our executives have always followed the law,

and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers. We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and to offer substantial value for our many millions of loyal Prime members around the world. We will continue to do so, and look forward to what we’ll deliver for Prime members in the coming years.”