The Federal Trade Commission has sued Amazon, accusing the retailer of enrolling customers in its Amazon Prime program without their content and “sabotaging their attempts to cancel” those memberships.
“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 in a statement. “These manipulative tactics harm consumers and law-abiding businesses alike.”
The FTC says Amazon used “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs” to trick customers into enrolling in auto-renewing subscriptions. Then, it charged, the company knowingly complicated the cancellation process, with management slowing or rejecting changes that would have made it easier for subscribers to cancel.
Amazon, it noted in the suit, “revamped its Prime cancellation process for at least some subscribers shortly before the filing of this Complaint.”
Amazon did not immediately reply to Fortune’s request for comment about the suit. Last year, though, it criticized the FTC probe of Prime, saying the “investigation has been unusual and perplexing”.
The court filing is heavily redacted, which the FTC indicated it is fighting. The commission also alleges in the complaint that Amazon attempted to “delay and hinder” the investigation in multiple instances.
FTC chair Lina Khan is a proponent, even the originator, of the “hipster antitrust” theory which contends that major firms, especially Amazon, have too much power over markets.
Amazon shares were down more than 1% following the suit. This is far from the company’s first clash with the FTC. Just last month, it agreed to pay $30 million to settle privacy violations involving its voice assistant Alexa and its Ring doorbell camera.
The suit was announced on the same day Amazon was riding a wave of consumer goodwill as it unveiled the dates for its 2023 Prime Day.
