Bloomberg Law Did Amazon Trick Customers & Kimmel Returns
Sep 24, 2025
Matthew Schettenhelm, a litigation and government analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, discusses the FTC's lawsuit against Amazon for allegedly tricking customers into unwanted Prime subscriptions and making cancellations unnecessarily difficult. He also highlights Amazon's potential liabilities and ongoing antitrust threats. Jennifer Rie, a senior litigation analyst, delves into the DOJ's effort to break up Google, explaining findings on Google's monopolization tactics and the potential impact of divestiture on its revenue. The conversation explores the evolving landscape of antitrust litigation.
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Disputed Dark Patterns At Issue
- The FTC alleges Amazon tricked shoppers into Prime during checkout and called that a dark-pattern problem.
- The judge found reasonable jurors could disagree, so the issue goes to trial.
Complex Cancellation Claims
- The FTC argues Amazon made canceling Prime unnecessarily complex with multi-page confirmation flows.
- The judge again found factual disputes requiring a jury decision on whether cancellation was
Employees Called The Cancellation Process The Iliad
- Amazon employees internally described the cancellation journey as the "Iliad," highlighting its difficulty.
- The FTC will use those internal remarks as damaging evidence to jurors.
