Amazon agrees to settle U.S. lawsuit over 'tricking' people into Prime

Amazon agrees to settle U.S. lawsuit over 'tricking' people into Prime

Alina Selyukh

September 25, 2025 / 8:23 am

Amazon has agreed to settle a landmark case over its Prime membership program, according to U.S. regulators, who had alleged the company's web designs manipulated tens of millions of people into paying for subscriptions that were purposefully hard to cancel.

The Federal Trade Commission says Amazon, without admitting wrongdoing, has agreed to pay a historic $1 billion in civil penalties to the government and another $1.5 billion in redress payments to affected consumers.

NPR has reached out to Amazon for comment.

The parties reached a deal as trial was just beginning in Amazon's hometown of Seattle. Somewhat unusually for a dense antitrust case, a jury was slated to d