David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge in Seattle on Tuesday rejected Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ:) request to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing the company of luring millions of consumers to its paid Amazon Prime service without their consent.
Amazon’s lawyers urged U.S. District Judge John Chun to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuits. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FTC lawsuit, filed in June 2023, accused the retailer of deception. It alleged that Amazon made it difficult to cancel a subscription and knew that a certain percentage of consumers had accidentally signed up for Prime and that some consumers were charged months before they canceled their membership.
Amazon urged Chun to dismiss the FTC lawsuit, arguing that the company “visibly and repeatedly” disclosed key terms, including price and auto-renewal, to Prime customers. Amazon also accused the Federal Trade Commission of seeking to punish the company using “vague concepts” such as “manipulative” website design.
Amazon used “manipulative, coercive or deceptive user interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into signing up for automatic Prime subscription renewals,” said the Federal Trade Commission, which sought civil penalties and a permanent injunction to prevent future violations.
The lawsuit is part of the Biden administration’s ongoing crackdown on big tech companies.
In a separate lawsuit, the FTC in September accused Amazon of violating U.S. antitrust laws with business practices that prohibit sellers from offering prices lower than Amazon’s. The case is also pending in Chun’s Seattle court, with a trial set for October 2026.
Prime’s FTC lawsuit says Amazon, “under significant pressure” from the FTC, changed its cancellation process in April, before the agency filed its lawsuit. The complaint states that “Amazon continues to require five clicks on desktop and six on mobile devices for consumers to unsubscribe from Amazon.com.”
A 10-day non-jury trial in the case is scheduled for February 2025.