Amazon agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement in September 2025 to resolve allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it enrolled consumers in Prime without proper consent and made canceling the service difficult. The case focused on subscription cancellation dark patterns that complicated the process for customers wishing to end their Prime membership, according to chargebee.com.
The FTC's complaint highlighted how Amazon's cancellation flow included multiple confusing steps, such as buried cancellation links and misleading buttons that obscured the option to cancel. These practices kept customers subscribed even after they intended to leave. The cancellation flow starts when a customer searches for the cancel option and ends when the request is fully processed and confirmed. The settlement aims to address these issues and improve transparency in subscription management.
Subscription cancellation dark patterns are a growing concern across digital services, as they impair consumer choice by making it harder to stop payments. The Amazon case is one of the largest settlements addressing these practices, underscoring regulatory scrutiny on how companies handle subscription cancellations. The FTC defines dark patterns as tactics that obscure or impair consumer decisions, and this case sets a precedent for how subscription services must design their cancellation flows.
The settlement requires Amazon to overhaul its cancellation process to ensure customers can easily find and complete cancellation without misleading steps. The $2.5 billion agreement was finalized in September 2025, marking a significant regulatory action against subscription cancellation dark patterns.