Before Amazon's multi-billion-dollar settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday, it was anyone's guess how Americans were supposed to know that clicking "No, I don't want free shipping" at checkout really meant "No, I don't want to sign up for Amazon Prime." Fortunately, the FTC has stepped in.
The FTC announced that it had reached a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon regarding allegations that the company signed up millions of Americans for Prime without their consent. Amazon maintains that it never broke the law and that the settlement will allow it to focus on delivering value for consumers.
The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023, alleging a "years-long effort to enroll consumers into its Prime program without their consent while knowingly making it difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions," which the agency had begun investigating more than two years prior. The agency accused Amazon of using "manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as 'dark patterns' to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions."
