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.

Luxembourg's CNPD fined Amazon for processing personal data for behavioural advertising without valid consent. It was the largest GDPR fine at the time and has been under appeal since.

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.