The FTC’s complaint also notes that Amazon’s Prime cancellation process was internally named “Iliad,” a reference to Homer’s epic and a direct nod to the arduous nature of attempting to cancel a subscription. The filing says some Amazon employees attempted to get company executives to address the nonconsensual enrollment issue and fix it. The filing states Amazon was internally aware of the “nonconsensual enrollment” problem, though further details surrounding that statement have been redacted. Specific instances of dark patterns include Amazon obscuring the location of the option to purchase items without a Prime subscription, as well as utilizing a transaction completion button that failed to clearly state that by clicking the button, users were enrolling in a recurring Prime subscription. Microsoft Charged With Illegally Collecting Children’s Data The complaint defines “dark patterns” as manipulative design elements custom-tailored to trick consumers into making decisions they wouldn’t have gone through with if options had been transparently presented. Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions.” (“Amazon”) has knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in its Amazon Prime service (‘Nonconsensual Enrollees’ or ‘Nonconsensual Enrollment’). The summary of the case reads as follows: Though much of the FTC’s filed complaint is redacted, the key charges remain visible. The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint Wednesday against Amazon for its Prime subscriptions, specifically how that system makes it hard to know when the signup process is actually occurring as well as creating barriers to exit when a user wants to unsubscribe.
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