The US has accused Amazon of tricking customers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions and making it difficult to cancel.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the country’s consumer rights watchdog, made the claims in a lawsuit.

More than 200 million people globally subscribe to Prime, a subscription to Amazon that offers shipping perks, access to streaming movies and more. Amazon did not comment immediately.

“Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said announcing the suit, which was filed in federal court in Seattle. The FTC said Amazon knowingly used website designs that pushed customers into agreeing to enrol in Prime and have the subscription automatically renew as they were making purchases.

Auto-enrolment

According to the FTC, Amazon attempted to make it difficult for users to opt out of auto-enrolment because “those changes would also negatively affect Amazon’s bottom line”.

The FTC said the company’s tactics broke laws aimed at protecting shoppers.

Amazon changed the cancellation process shortly before the lawsuit was filed, the agency added. About 70 per cent of Amazon’s Prime customers are based in the US, according to the FTC.

Meanwhile, Amazon is facing an investigation by the US Congress over its warehouse safety practices, adding to pressure it faces over its treatment of workers. Senator Bernie Sanders announced the probe, calling the company one of America’s “most dangerous” employers.

He pointed to a recent report which found that injury rates at Amazon warehouses in the US are higher than at similar facilities. Amazon said it disagreed with the claims.