2023-06-21 16:10:00
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States accused Amazon on Wednesday of tricking millions of consumers into paying without their consent for the premium delivery service that includes Prime Video, the company’s streaming platform, reports Archyde.com.
Amazon Prime Photo: Web Pix / Alamy / Profimedia Images
The FTC filed a complaint in federal court in Seattle alleging that “Amazon knowingly deceived millions of consumers into unknowingly signing up for Amazon Prime.”
The US regulator also says Amazon used “manipulative, coercive and deceptive” techniques to trick its customers into renewing their Amazon Prime memberships by using “dark pattern” interfaces.
They are known by that name because they manipulate consumers into paying for goods and services they don’t want or that are sold at higher than advertised prices.
Amazon offers through its Prime subscriptions fast and free deliveries worldwide, as well as various price reductions for its goods and services.
Subscribers in the United States generally pay $139 a year for the service, which plays a large role in the sales volume of the company founded by Jeff Bezos.
Harsh accusations leveled in the US against Amazon Prime
Worldwide, Amazon has over 200 million subscribers to this service. The company’s stock immediately fell 1 percent on the stock market after the FTC’s announcement.
The American authority stated that it is investigating the process of subscribing and renewing subscriptions to the Prime service from March 2021.
“Amazon tricked and coerced people into recurring subscriptions without their consent,” the FTC says, alleging that the situation not only frustrated customers who couldn’t unsubscribe from the service, but also cost them “significant” amounts of money .
The complaint describes how customers who tried to cancel their Prime memberships had to go through numerous steps before they could do so, with many of them giving up along the way.
The FTC also cited media reports that described the Prime cancellation process as “The Iliad,” in a reference to Homer’s epic about the Trojan War.
In recent years, Amazon has invested heavily in the production of films and series for Prime Video, entering the streaming market alongside names such as Netflix, HBO Max and Disney+. Earlier in June the company announced that it will launch a version with ads for its streaming service, following example of competition.
According to JustWatch, an independent site specialized in streaming, Prime Video is the second streaming platform in Romania in terms of market share, behind only Netflix. Both platforms appeared with us in 2016, years ahead of the competition.
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