Amazon has agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle claims that it enrolled millions in Prime membership subscriptions without their consent and also made it hard for customers to cancel, the Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday.
The settlement includes a $1 billion civil penalty, and a $1.5 billion fund to give refunds back to consumers.
Amazon Prime subscribers get access to Prime Video, the tech giant’s subscription streaming service.
The FTC said that the $1 billion civil penalty is the largest ever in a case involving an agency rule violation. The $1.5 billion fund, impacting about 35 million consumers, is the second largest restitution amount the agency has obtained, per the FTC.
The FTC filed a complaint against Amazon in 2023, during the Biden administration. A ju