Amazon sued by Prime Video customers over “deceptive” ad-free costs

Amazon has found itself in the midst of a lawsuit on behalf of its Prime Video customers, and it all has to do with its recent addition of ads on the platform.

From erasing basic-level payment plans to cracking down on password sharing, streaming services like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney Plus aren’t making it easy for their subscribers to find loopholes. Or pay a fair price, for that matter.

Most recently, Prime Video – who in the past have described their service as being “commercial-free” – became the subject of controversy when they suddenly announced back in late 2023 that users would be faced with ads across the platform.

As an alternative, they offered subscribers the option to pay an additional $2.99 per month to skip those pesky ads. But the damage has been done, and those affected are now deciding to lay down the law. Literally.

Amazon sued by Prime Video customers

Amazon has been hit by a class action lawsuit on behalf of users and is being accused of misleading Prime Video subscribers.

The lawsuit claims a breach of contract and violation of state consumer protection laws for users. Essentially, this means that those with Prime Video subscriptions will have seen their terms change without their agreement.

Amazon switched up on customers by making their ad-inclusive tier the default setting for over 100 million subscribers. (You’ll likely have seen a little pop-up explaining as such the last time you hopped onto Prime.) With some subscribers paying for Prime Video annually, many users are now paying additional costs on top of an already agreed price.

The class action is seeking at least $5 million, as well as limitations for Amazon in order to prevent them from making any more changes for users who subscribed before December 28, 2023.

It may be a while yet until the results of the lawsuit are known, but this could be a lesson to other major streaming platforms. Evidently, Prime Video subscribers made it known they were unhappy with the sudden change in costs, and they’ll be damned if they can’t watch their Reacher or Mr. & Mrs. Smith for the price they agreed to. Netflix and Disney Plus…take note.