The Federal Trade Commission announced that it filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. alleging that the online retail giant used dark patterns to trick consumers into enrolling in auto-renewing Prime subscriptions and knowingly complicated the cancellation process for Prime subscribers. 

The (heavily redacted) complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, asserts violations of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”), describing a years-long effort to enroll Prime subscribers without their consent and then prevent them from canceling their subscriptions.

According to the FTC, Amazon used manipulative, coercive and deceptive user-interface designs known as “dark patterns” in its Prime enrollment flows, including: (i) forcing consumers to choose whether to enroll in Prime before allowing them to complete a purchase; (ii) revealing the terms and conditions of Prime only once during the purchase process, and only in a small, easy-to-miss font; (iii) making the option to decline enrollment difficult to locate; and (iv) presenting asymmetric choices that made it easier to enroll in Prime than not.  These dark patterns allegedly manipulated consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions for $14.99/month.

Additionally, the FTC alleges that Amazon maintained a cancellation process designed to deter consumers from successfully unsubscribing from Prime.  Consumers who attempted to cancel Prime were allegedly confronted by several obstacles, including a difficult-to-find cancellation flow and redirection to multiple pages that presented various offers to continue the subscription.

Further, the complaint alleges that Amazon executives were aware of these issues and failed to take any meaningful steps to address them until the FTC’s investigation.  In fact, Amazon allegedly named its cancellation process “Iliad”—referring to Homer’s epic about the long, arduous Trojan War—and designed it to be labyrinthine, with leadership purportedly slowing or rejecting user experience changes that would have made the process simpler because such changes adversely affected Amazon’s bottom line.

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan.  “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike.  The FTC will continue to vigorously protect Americans from ‘dark patterns’ and other unfair or deceptive practices in digital markets.”

The FTC’s action seeks a permanent injunction to prevent future violations by Amazon, monetary civil penalties under ROSCA, and other equitable relief.