FTC trial in Seattle accuses Amazon of dark patterns to enroll Prime

The Federal Trade Commission this week began a high-stakes jury trial in federal court in Seattle alleging that Amazon deliberately misled customers into enrolling in its Prime membership and then made it arduous to cancel, a practice the agency says violated consumer protection laws. The case, filed in 2023, goes to trial after a federal judge last month ruled that Amazon violated the Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act by collecting billing information before disclosing the full terms of Prime.

The FTC alleges that Amazon used manipulative user interface designs known as dark patterns to enroll customers and employed a deliberately convoluted cancellation flow the agency says was known internally as Iliad. In court filings the agency contends the practices tricked as many as nearly 40 million customers into Prime and created multiple hurdles to cancellation. Descriptions of the cancellation process vary across filings and reporting, with the FTC describing a multi page, multi click sequence that included options and warnings intended to discourage completion of cancellation.

Amazon has denied the allegations. Mark Blafkin, an Amazon spokesperson, said the company drives...