Amazon Agrees to $2.5B FTC Settlement

Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle an FTC lawsuit that alleged it used deceptive “dark pattern” designs to enroll consumers in auto‑renewing Prime subscriptions and made cancellation intentionally difficult, reaching the deal days into a Seattle trial. The settlement splits into a $1 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in consumer redress — roughly $51 per eligible customer for about 35 million people — and Amazon did not admit wrongdoing. It requires Amazon to stop using deceptive designs, obtain clear consent before charging, make opt‑outs and cancellation flows no more burdensome than enrollment, bar certain misleading button labels, submit to third‑party compliance monitoring, and the agreement names senior executives. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson called the outcome historic and said the penalty is the largest the agency has imposed for a rule violation. Amazon said the deal lets it move forward; Prime remains central to its business with roughly 200 million U.S. users and more than $44 billion in subscription-related revenue last year. The settlement ended the immediate trial, prompted only modest market reaction, and does not affect separate ongoing FTC antitrust litigation against Amazon.