Overview

• Amazon agreed to pay a $1.0 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in consumer refunds to resolve the FTC’s 2023 suit over deceptive Prime signups and hard-to-find cancellations.
• Roughly 35 million U.S. customers are slated for refunds, with eligible users who joined via the single-page checkout between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025 receiving at least $51 after the order takes effect.
• Required reforms include a clear opt-out button during checkout, prominent disclosure of cost and auto-renewal terms, simple same-method cancellation, and a ban on prompts like “No, I don’t want free shipping.”
• An independent monitor will oversee compliance and the refund distribution, and the case cited alleged violations of the FTC Act and the online subscription law ROSCA.
• Amazon does not admit wrongdoing; the deal follows a court ruling that Prime subscriptions fall under consumer-protection laws and that Amazon obtained billing data before fully disclosing terms.