New York (CNN) — The Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited trial against Amazon begins this week, with the e-commerce giant’s cancellation practices under the microscope.
The lawsuit, filed in 2023 under the Biden administration, accuses Amazon of tricking millions of consumers into signing up for its Prime subscription service through deceptive user interface designs and making it hard to cancel.
“Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,” the FTC complaint said.
It added that Amazon deliberately made it much harder to cancel subscriptions than to enroll in Prime, alleging that the company created a “labyrinthine” cancellation process intended to distract or deter consumers from following through on their intent.
“The bottom line is that neither Amazon nor the individual defendants did anything wrong,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNN. “We remain confident that the facts will show these executives acted properly and we always put customers first.”
Prime, which costs $14.99 per month or $139 annually, is a hallmark of Amazon’s offerings and generates billions of dollars from it. Initially started as an add-on for fast delivery, Prime has ballooned into a multi-pronged service that offers streaming entertainment, grocery delivery, fuel and food delivery perks, as well as subscriber-only deals.
Amazon doesn’t disclose how many US subscribers it has, but a third-party analysis from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimates that it has 197 million customers as of March 2025.
The trial is expected to last about a month, with jury selection beginning Monday and opening arguments scheduled for Tuesday. If the jury rules that Amazon broke the law, the judge will decide how much Amazon will pay in damages.
The FTC didn’t immediately respond to CNN on Monday for comment.
Since 2016, Amazon allegedly maintained a lengthy, multi-step cancellation process it internally referred to as “Iliad Flow,” named after “Homer’s epic about the long, arduous Trojan War,” the complaint said. Other than contacting customer service, Amazon offered no alternative to consumers wishing to cancel apart from going through the Iliad process, the FTC said.
The FTC alleged that going through the Iliad Flow required customers to “navigate a four-page, six-click, fifteen-option cancellation process” that contained numerous off-ramps — including warnings about missing out on benefits, promotional discounts and offers on deals — intended to derail the customer.
Meanwhile, Amazon made it easy to sign up for Prime in just two clicks, the FTC said, and often buried specifics about recurring bills in fine print, the FTC alleged.
Since then, Amazon has made changes: It now has a cancellation page that lays out member’s options on whether to end or pause their Prime membership.
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