Prime packages being delivered in Manhattan. Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images New York —

Amazon is paying a historic $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, the agency announced Thursday, ending a 2-year dispute over allegations the company tricked consumers into signing up for its Prime subscription service and then made it hard to cancel.

As part of the agreement, Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and provide $1.5 billion in refunds to an estimated 35 million customers that were “harmed by their deceptive Prime enrollment practices,” the agency said in a press release.

The settlement comes just a few days into a trial between the FTC and Amazon. The lawsuit was filed in 2023 under the Biden administration over the company’s cancellation policies

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