Amazon accused of tricking Prime customers with 'manipulative website'

Amazon has been accused of tricking customers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions and making it difficult to cancel them.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), America's consumer rights watchdog, cited allegedly "manipulative" website designs in a lawsuit against the company's service, which offers shipping perks and access to films at an extra cost, and is used by more than 200 million people globally.

It said Amazon put customers seeking to cancel through a cumbersome "four-page, six-click, fifteen option" process and "tricked" people, but Amazon rejected the charges, calling them "false on the facts and the law".

"Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money," FTC Chair Lina Khan said.

Prime costs $139 a year or $14.99 monthly in the US and £95 per year in the UK.

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The FTC is seeking a court order to force Amazon to change its practices, as well as financial penalties in an unspecified amount.

Amazon said it had been in the middle of discussing the issues with the agency when the lawsuit was filed without notice.

"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 company said.

The FTC also said Amazon had attempted to delay the probe on multiple occasions, including by refusing to deliver documents in a timely manner.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit marks the third action from the FTC involving Amazon in recent weeks.

The company agreed to pay $25m last month to settle charges it had violated child privacy laws by keeping recordings children made on Alexa, and it agreed to pay another $5.8m to resolve claims that Ring, the doorbell company Amazon purchased in 2018, had violated privacy protections by giving staff access to customer videos and failing to protect against hackers.

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