FTC sues Amazon for tricking people into signing up for ‘Prime’

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) is in focus today after the FTC filed a lawsuit against the tech behemoth in a U.S. District Court.

FTC has a bone to pick with Amazon Prime

In its complaint, the regulator accused Amazon of using deception to have people sign up for “Prime” and deliberately making it harder for them to cancel the recurring subscription.

According to Lina Khan – Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, the multinational violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and the FTC Act.

Amazon Prime now has more than 200 million subscribers globally and generates billions of dollars in annual revenue for the company. The tech stock is up a whopping 45% for the year at writing.

AMZN settled two lawsuits with FTC in May

Amazon.com Inc is yet to officially respond to the lawsuit filed in the Western District of Washington.

The news arrives only weeks after the Nasdaq-listed firm agreed to pay over $30 million to the FTC to settle allegations of privacy lapses related to both “Ring” and “Alexa”.

Still, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill recommended buying Amazon stock in a research note this morning. He expects it to hit $150 a share – up another 20% from here as investors continue to chase the rapid growth in artificial intelligence.

Also on Wednesday, the eCommerce giant said its “Prime Day” mega sale will go live this year on July 11^th.