Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that it duped users into paying for Prime subscriptions and made it hard to cancel memberships.

The company will be required to pay a $1 billion civil penalty and provide $1.5 billion in refunds to an estimated 35 million consumers harmed by the company’s “deceptive Prime enrollment practices,” the FTC says. Amazon is also required to stop its “unlawful enrollment and cancellation practices.”

The suit, filed in June 2023 under the Biden administration, claimed that Amazon created confusing and deceptive user interfaces to lead consumers to enroll in Prime without their knowledge. It also created a complex process for consumers looking to cancel their subscription by making

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