The Facts
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Amazon in a US District Court in Washington Wednesday for allegedly using deceptive tactics to get millions of users to sign up for its Prime program and "sabotaging" attempts to cancel the subscriptions.
The FTC claims Amazon violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act by using so-called "dark patterns" that intentionally manipulated users into enrolling in and automatically renewing Prime subscriptions with "coercive or deceptive user-interface designs."
The Spin
Narrative A
Amazon has been using deceptive and illegal tactics to dupe millions of subscribers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime while creating a self-described “Iliad” process to prevent users from leaving the program. This predatory behavior has cost consumers millions of dollars and has been intentionally preserved to keep cash flows up for the tech behemoth. Amazon must stop these manipulative tactics and pay for its transgressions.
Narrative B
Since 2021, FTC Chair Lina Khan has unfairly targeted Amazon and its executives in an egregiously handled probe that shows a clear personal vendetta she has against CEO Andrew Jassy and Jeff Bezos. Khan has publicly shown her bias against Amazon since her 2017 article berating the company, and she is now abusing her power to target Amazon and its key figures.
