Amazon is reportedly facing a proposed class action lawsuit which was filed on Friday in California federal court and deals with its Prime Video service’s move into ads.
Last year, the retail giant announced plans to incorporate ads into Prime Video – not unlike many rivals such as Netflix, Disney+ and others who have done the same with multiple tiers, including ‘with ads’ and ‘ad free’ accounts.
One key difference however is that many of the others added the ad-free tiers to their existing roster of options – meaning if you already had an account there it remained the same. The ‘with ads’ option was simply an additional tier added to the line-up.
Amazon was different. It rolled out the change last month which saw its ad tier suddenly become the default for its over 100 million subscribers. Those who wanted the ad-free experience they had before would have to pay an additional $2.99 per month. Those with annual subscriptions were also impacted by the change.
The proposed class action claims breach of contract and violations of state consumer protection laws on behalf of users who saw the terms of their subscriptions with Amazon altered. The complaint states: “Subscribers must now pay extra to get something they already paid for” and labelling it “unfair” and “deceptive”.
The proposed class action seeks at least $5 million and a court order barring Amazon from engaging in further deceptive conduct on behalf of users who subscribed to Prime prior to December 28th last year.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
