Amazon enrolled customers in Prime without consent, made it hard to cancel, FTC says in lawsuit

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday accused online retail giant Amazon of underhanded practices to keep customers enrolled in its Prime program, in a complaint filed in federal court.

The FTC is accusing Amazon of intentionally manipulating consumers into subscribing to Amazon Prime via "coercive or deceptive user-interface designs" known as "dark patterns." 

"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.