Amazon settles FTC Prime lawsuit, much to Khan's chagrin

"Amazon has settled the Federal Trade Commission's case against it for making it too hard to quit Prime, and while it naturally didn't admit to any wrongdoing, it's still going to pay out one of the largest settlements in FTC history to make the matter go away. The case, which Big Tech nemesis Lina Khan brought in 2023 under the Biden administration, accused Amazon of a years-long effort to make enrollment in the company's subscription plan, Prime, without their consent while simultaneously making it nearly impossible to cancel."

"Per the FTC, Amazon has agreed to pay a $1 billion civil penalty - the largest ever in a case involving an FTC rule violation - as well as $1.5 billion in consumer redress for an estimated 35 million customers who were allegedly ripped off by the ecommerce giant. The restitution fee is the second-highest ever obtained by the FTC. The settlement also resolved allegations against Amazon SVP of health services Neil Lindsay and Prime VP Jamil Ghani for their roles in the alleged scheme."

""Amazon and our executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers," Amazon said of the matter in a statement. "We work incredibly hard to make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up or cancel their Prime membership, and ... we will continue to do so." Amazon told us in an email that the settlement included no admission of guilt, and that most of the changes the FTC ordered were things it had done years ago."

Amazon agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it used manipulative user interfaces to enroll consumers in Prime and made cancellation difficult. The company will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in consumer redress for an estimated 35 million affected customers. The settlement also addressed allegations against two senior Amazon executives tied to the alleged scheme. The agreement came during an ongoing jury trial in Seattle and includes no admission of guilt from Amazon, which stated many required changes had already been implemented.

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