Washington, D.C. — Following news that the Federal Trade Commission has reached a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon over its use of “dark patterns” to trick people into subscribing to Prime and creating a digital obstacle course to cancel, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“After defrauding tens of millions of people with an intentionally labyrinthine cancellation process, the FTC is allowing Amazon and its executives to walk away scot-free,” said Nidhi Hegde, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “Ordinary people would go to jail for this kind of fraud, but Amazon and its corporate executives can write a meager check to skip their day in court while keeping their jobs and reputations intact. That double standard is why so many Americans have lost faith in this administration’s willingness to hold corporate lawbreakers accountable.”

“Enough with this game of whack-a-mole,” added Hegde. “If the Commission is serious about protecting people from deceptive subscription schemes, it should re-issue the Click-to-Cancel rule today, instead of tossing it aside to appease the Chamber of Commerce.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.