Lessons from Amazon Alleged Deception for Prime Sign-Ups

Amazon’s $2.5 billion “historic” settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers lessons for ethical webpage design. The lawsuit accused Amazon of misleading customers to subscribe for a Prime account.

Following are examples of the FTC’s evidence—how students might avoid designing webpages that intentionally or inadvertently dupe users:

• “Dark patterns”—design choices to intentionally deceive. One example is the prominent, yellow subscription button compared to the faint “No thanks.” Another example is the visual option for shipping. Students can compare how differently the shipping options are presented on Amazon today.

• “Iliad flow”—a long, confusing process, for example, how to cancel a subscription. The FTC cited the need for customers to “navigate a four-page, six-click, fifteen-option process" to cancel but only one or two clicks to enroll.

• Deceiving text—for example, this button for “30 days of Prime for . . . FREE.” When users selected this option, they were immediately enrolled but not told that the subscription would auto-renew monthly and for how much.

The FTC report also cites evidence from Amazon’s internal documents. Messages refer to “accidental” signups, acknowledge that “subscription driving is a bit of a shady world,” and call unwanted subscriptions “an unspoken cancer.” This is a reminder for students to watch what they put in writing, even in informal messages.  

As we know, when a company settles a suit, it doesn’t admit guilt. Amazon’s short statement says little, but they did agree to the agreement terms, which include clearer buttons, explicit disclosures, and easier ways to cancel a subscription.