Amazon is facing a US class action lawsuit over its move to add advertising to its Prime Video platform and charge subscribers an additional $2.99 a month to view without them.
The suit was filed on behalf of Wilbert Napoleon, a resident of Eastvale, California.
Amazon’s conduct, as alleged, “was immoral, unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous and substantially injurious to consumers,” according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, including punitive damages, as well as an injunction to block Amazon’s alleged deceptive conduct.
“For years, people purchased and renewed their Amazon Prime subscriptions believing that they would include ad-free streaming,” the lawsuit said. “But last month, Amazon changed the deal. To stream movies and TV shows without ads, Amazon customers must now pay an additional $2.99 per month… This is not fair, because these subscribers already paid for the ad-free version; these subscribers should not have to pay an additional $2.99/month for something that they already paid for.”
However Amazon is seeking to dismiss the case, insisting that it “has always disclosed that the bundle of Prime benefits is subject to change… In other words, Amazon never guaranteed that any particular Prime benefit would remain available indefinitely; it expressly stated the opposite.”
Prime Video users who are suing Amazon “got exactly what they bargained for,” Amazon’s motion to dismiss said. “One Prime benefit is access to Prime Video, a world-class streaming service with a massive library of movies, shows, and other digital content, including award-winning original and exclusive content.”
Prime Video Australia introduced advertising on July 2nd 2024. To avoid seeing ads, Prime Video members must also pay a further $2.99 per month on top of their current subsciption.
Source: Variety
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