Amazon faces US trial over alleged Prime subscription tricks | International

WASHINGTON, Sept 22, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Amazon goes to trial on Monday in a US government lawsuit that accuses the e-commerce giant of using tricks to enroll millions of customers in its Prime subscription service and then making it nearly impossible to cancel. The Federal Trade Commission's complaint, filed in June 2023, alleges that Amazon knowingly used designs known as "dark patterns" to trick consumers into signing up for the $139-per-year Prime service during checkouts. The case centers on two main allegations: that Amazon enrolled customers without clear consent through confusing checkout processes, and that it created a deliberately complex cancellation system internally nicknamed "Iliad" - after Homer's epic about the long, arduous Trojan War. The case will be heard...