The Federal Trade Commission has opened a two-front war on Amazon’s Prime practices in a federal courtroom. The government’s lawsuit, now at trial, attacks both the company’s checkout process for allegedly deceptive enrollments and its “Iliad” cancellation flow for being an illegal trap.
On the first front, the FTC is presenting evidence of “dark patterns.” The agency claims Amazon’s checkout design was a manipulative tool that duped millions of customers into signing up for Prime. By making the subscription option the most obvious and easy choice, Amazon allegedly generated countless nonconsensual enrollments.
On the second front, the FTC is targeting the “Iliad” process, which it describes as a “labyrinth.” The government argues this system was a deliberate barrier, designed to be so confusing and time-consuming that users would abandon their attempts to cancel their memberships, allowing Amazon to continue billing them.
This trial is a major event in the ongoing U.S. government effort to rein in the power of Big Tech. It represents a direct challenge to the user interface design choices that have helped these companies become dominant. A ruling against Amazon could have a chilling effect on the use of such practices across the industry.
Amazon is fighting the lawsuit on both fronts. The company denies that its designs were deceptive and maintains that its cancellation process has been simplified. The defense will argue that the FTC is unfairly targeting a successful company with a popular service, based on outdated and exaggerated claims.