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SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Less than $3 per week View Profile The Explainer Talking Points The Week Recommends Newsletters From the Magazine The Week Junior Food & Drink Personal Finance All Categories Newsletter sign up Amazon reaches ‘historic’ $2.5B Prime settlement The company allegedly tricked customers into signing up for Prime membership that was then difficult to cancel Newsletter sign up Amazon has 90 days to refund $51 to customers who signed up between June 2019 and June 2025 (Image credit: Smith Collection / Gado / Getty Images) Rafi Schwartz, The Week US 26 September 2025 What happened Amazon has settled a lawsuit over allegations it tricked customers into signing up for Prime membership and made it too onerous to end their subscriptions, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday. Amazon agreed to pay a $1 billion civil penalty and up to $1.5 billion in refunds to an estimated 35 million affected customers. Who said what Amazon relied on “sophisticated subscription traps designed to manipulate consumers into enrolling in Prime,” then “made it exceedingly hard” to cancel, FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said. An Amazon spokesperson said the e-commerce giant had “always followed the law” and could now “move forward and focus on innovating for customers.” The company did not admit or deny wrongdoing in the settlement. The “historic” settlement, one of the largest in U.S. history, was a “surprise,” coming days after the case went to trial in federal court in Seattle, The Associated Press said. The fine “rivals some of the large penalties” levied by the European Union’s aggressive privacy and competition regulators, The Washington Post said, but it’s also just a “fraction” of Amazon’s “nearly $60 billion” in profits last year. This is a “drop in the bucket for Amazon,” former FTC Chair Lina Khan, who filed the case in 2023, said on social media. “And, no doubt, a big relief for the executives who knowingly harmed their customers.” Amazon has 90 days to automatically refund $51 to customers who signed up between June 2019 and June 2025 through a deceptive sign-up process, then barely used the service or watched Prime Video. Other customers who could qualify will be contacted with directions to apply for refunds. Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Social Links Navigation Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. 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