- Amazon agreed to a multi-billion-dollar fine to settle claims that it duped Prime subscribers.
- FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said,”We are putting billions of dollars back into Americans’ pockets.”
- The tech giant reached a settlement with the FTC just days after the trial began.
Amazon is set to pay a record fine to settle claims that it misled customers into renewing their Prime subscriptions.
The Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday that it had settled the case with a record $2.5 billion fine, of which $1.5 billion will go toward refunding customers.
“Today, the Trump-Vance FTC made history and secured a record-breaking, monumental win for the millions of Americans who are tired of deceptive subscriptions that feel impossible to cancel,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in a statement. “The evidence showed that Amazon used sophisticated subscription traps designed to manipulate consumers into enrolling in Prime, and then made it exceedingly hard for consumers to end their subscription. Today, we are putting billions of dollars back into Americans’ pockets, and making sure Amazon never does this again. The Trump-Vance FTC is committed to fighting back when companies try to cheat ordinary Americans out of their hard-earned pay.”
The settlement came just days after Amazon’s trial in Seattle began.
This is developing.