Amazon Settles FTC Prime Case for $2.5 Billion: $1 Billion Penalty and $1.5 Billion in Consumer Refunds
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced on September 25, 2025, that Amazon.com, Inc. had agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement over the enrollment and cancellation practices of its Prime subscription program: Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and provide $1.5 billion in refunds to affected consumers. The order was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, in Seattle, King County, Washington.
The FTC alleged that Amazon used confusing, misleading, and deceptive user-interface designs in its online shopping, checkout, and video-viewing flows to trick millions of consumers into enrolling in Prime without their knowledge, profiting from the practice for years. The agency also alleged that Amazon deliberately made the cancellation process complex and difficult to stop or slow consumers trying to cancel. The practices violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, the agency said.
Documents cited by the FTC show that inside Amazon, commenters described subscription driving as "a bit of a shady world" and called the practice "an unspoken cancer," while company executives who were aware of the concerns took no action to stop it.
Under the order, the $1 billion civil penalty is the largest ever in a case involving an FTC rule violation. The $1.5 billion in consumer redress is the second-highest restitution amount ever obtained through an FTC action and is expected to reach an estimated 35 million consumers who were harmed by unwanted Prime enrollment or deferred cancellation. The defendants named in the order are Amazon and two executives, Senior Vice President Neil Lindsay and Vice President Jamil Ghani.
The order also requires Amazon to reform how Prime is sold and canceled: a clear and conspicuous button for consumers to decline enrollment; clear disclosures, before enrollment, of all material terms, including cost, the date and frequency of charges, auto-renewal, and cancellation procedures; cancellation through the same medium used to sign up; and an independent third-party supervisor to oversee the distribution of refunds. The Commission voted 3-0 to approve the settlement.
(Source: U.S. Federal Trade Commission)
Source: U.S. Federal Trade Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿州 Seattle 市的亚马逊总部球形建筑 Amazon Spheres（资料图）。Joe Mabel 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Amazon Spheres at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle, Washington (file photo). By Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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