Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5bn in fines and redress to Prime subscribers to settle a lawsuit by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which accused the retail giant of signing users up for the service without their consent and making it difficult to cancel.
In a statement, the FTC said $1.5bn of the total will go into a fund to repay eligible subscribers.
Amazon has been contacted for comment.
The FTC – the US agency charged with consumer protection – sued Amazon in 2023, accusing the company of enrolling tens of millions of customers into its Prime subscription service without consent – and locking them in with complicated cancellation methods.
The case went to trial in a federal court in Seattle earlier this week.
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