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The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Amazon, claiming the online retailer has tricked millions of users into subscribing to Amazon Prime. “Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling in automatically-renewing Prime subscriptions,” the lawsuit reads. The FTC also accuses the company of deliberately making it difficult to cancel Prime subscriptions in an attempt to keep subscribers onboard. In response to the suit, Amazon – which currently has 200 million paid Prime subscribers – has released a statement that reads, “We find it concerning that the FTC announced this lawsuit without notice to us, in the midst of our discussions with FTC staff members to ensure they understand the facts, context, and legal issues. While the absence of that normal course engagement is extremely disappointing, we look forward to proving our case in court.”
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