Amazon sued for ‘tricking’ people into getting Prime membership

The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon for what it called a years-long effort to enroll consumers into Prime without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel the subscription.In its complaint, filed in Washington state, the FTC accused Amazon of using deceptive designs to trick "millions" of consumers into enrolling in the program. The agency also said the option to purchase items on Amazon without subscribing to Prime was more difficult in many cases. Consumers were sometimes presented with a button to complete their transactions — but the button didn't clearly state it would also enroll them into Prime.

An Amazon spokesperson said the FTC's claims in its complaint were "false on the facts and the law." The truth is that customers love Prime, and by design we make it clear and simple for customers to both sign up for or cancel their Prime membership," the spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. "As with all our products and services, we continually listen to customer feedback and look for ways to improve the customer experience, and we look forward to the facts becoming clear as this case plays out."The FTC's lawsuit against Amazon showed how the company worried for years that it tricked customers into signing up for Prime subscriptions. In last year's report.