Amazonfines & penalties

The FTC settled claims that Amazon tricked consumers into enrolling in Prime through deceptive sign-up flows and made cancellation deliberately difficult, an internal process nicknamed Iliad. The settlement comprised a $1B civil penalty and $1.5B in refunds to about 35 million customers.

Italy's AGCM found that Amazon tied key seller benefits, such as the Prime badge and better visibility, to using its own logistics service (FBA), disadvantaging rival logistics providers. The administrative court upheld that finding in 2025 but struck the penalty uplift, and the AGCM cut the fine from €1.128B to €752.4M.

Luxembourg's CNPD fined Amazon for processing personal data for behavioural advertising without valid consent, the largest GDPR fine at the time. In March 2026 the Administrative Court annulled the penalty and remanded it, so no money is currently owed.

The Commission ordered Luxembourg to recover tax advantages from Amazon, but EU courts annulled the decision, a ruling made final in 2023. It is included for completeness given its prominence.

The CNIL fined Amazon for placing advertising cookies on amazon.fr visitors' devices without consent or adequate information.

The FTC settled claims that Amazon kept children's Alexa voice recordings indefinitely, against COPPA and parents' deletion requests.

The FTC settled claims that Ring employees and contractors improperly accessed customers' home camera videos, and that lax security allowed outside access.