FTC sues Amazon over cancellation tactics, claims of 'dark patterns'

Watch FTC sues Amazon over cancellation tactics, claims of 'dark patterns' - Straight Arrow News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00The Federal Trade Commission is suing Amazon,

00:02claiming the company used dark patterns

00:04to sway customers from canceling their Prime memberships.

00:07According to the FTC,

00:08Amazon allegedly made the Prime cancellation process

00:11so complex they internally nicknamed it Iliad

00:14after the ancient Greek epic.

00:16You know, because nothing says unsubscribe

00:17like a 12 book poem.

00:18With 200 million subscribers worldwide,

00:21Amazon Prime rings in at $139 a year,

00:23which adds up fast, especially when the FTC claims

00:26that millions didn't exactly sign up on purpose.

00:29And despite those claims,

00:30Amazon raked in $576 billion last year,

00:33which is a lot of socks and electronics.

00:35Amazon says the sign up and cancel flows are clear and simple.

00:38Translation, if you got lost, that's on you.

00:41Now, some users reportedly clicked up to six different pages

00:44just to cancel.

00:45And the FTC is saying that's not a process,

00:47that's a scavenger hunt.

00:48This isn't just about Amazon either.

00:50The FTC is cracking down on shady UX across the board.

00:53Uber, Match, Chegg, you name it.

00:55Big Tech's worst nightmare, a mandatory cancel button.

00:58Fun fact, and this is just my experience,

01:00I had to use a third party app to cancel my Chegg subscription,

01:03and that barely worked.

01:04Critics call Amazon's Prime tactics a digital Venus flytrap.

01:08Easy in, impossible out.

01:10But supporters argue the FTC is overreacting

01:13to a few confused clicks in a program beloved

01:15by over 200 million members.

01:17Either way, this trial has the potential to reshape

01:20how companies are allowed to design their subscriptions.

01:22So what do you think?

01:23Is Amazon making it too hard to quit Prime on purpose?

01:25Or is the government just being a little dramatic

01:27about a few confusing buttons?

01:29Let us know in the comments and follow us here for more.