Amazon to pay $2.5 billion in FTC case

Amazon will pay $2.5 billion in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to settle claims that it misled millions of customers into signing up for its Prime membership.

The FTC said Thursday that Amazon will pay $1 billion in civil penalties, which marks the largest fine in FTC history, and $1.5 billion to customers who were unintentionally enrolled in an Amazon Prime membership or were deterred from canceling their memberships. The settlement stemmed from a 2023 lawsuit from the FTC, which said Amazon “duped millions of consumers” into enrolling in Prime by using “manipulative, coercive or deceptive” design tactics on its website.