Amazon.com will pay $2.5 billion in fines and redress to Prime subscribers to settle the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's case alleging the retail juggernaut signed users up for the subscription without their consent and made it difficult to cancel, the FTC said Thursday.
Of that, $1.5 billion will go into a fund to repay eligible Prime subscribers and Amazon will not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, the FTC said.
Earlier this week the case went to trial in a federal court in Seattle. Amazon was accused of duping tens of millions of Prime customers by signing them up without consent and locking them in with overly complex cancellation methods, the FTC said.
The FTC started probing Amazon's subscription practices during President Donald Trump's first term and the case was filed during Joe Biden's presidency. (Reporting by Jody Godoy)
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