In brief
Australia’s consumer watchdog has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the e‑commerce giant of unfair contract terms that enabled ads in Prime Video and forced over a million subscribers to pay additional fees. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) claims Amazon breached consumer protection laws between November 2023 and August 2025, citing five specific terms that let Amazon unilaterally change service conditions without refund rights. Amazon has said it is reviewing the case and has cooperated with the investigation. The lawsuit follows a history of regulatory scrutiny of Amazon’s practices in the US and UK.
Australia’s consumer watchdog has sued Amazon, claiming the tech giant introduced adverts in Prime Video using allegedly unfair contract terms.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says Amazon broke consumer‑protection law by enlisting unfair contracts with more than a million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025.
"Consumers who wanted to avoid ads were left with no choice but to pay more to maintain the service they'd initially signed up for," ACCC chair Gina Cass‑Gottlieb said.
A spokesperson for Amazon told BBC the company is reviewing the case filed by the ACCC in detail and has cooperated throughout the investigation.
Prime Video was a commercial‑free service until Amazon began advertising it globally in early 2024, adding an extra monthly fee of 12.99 Australian dollars to keep it ad‑free. Over 850,000 Australians paid for a year‑long Prime service and then received an ad‑supported version unless they paid the added fee.
The ACCC points to five unfair contract terms that allowed Amazon Australia to make unilateral, materially adverse changes to services and their governing terms without giving subscribers refunds or meaningful redress.
Amazon’s handling of customers has also attracted scrutiny abroad. In the US, the FTC sued Amazon for enrolling consumers into Prime without consent and later making cancellation difficult; Amazon also agreed to a $225 million fine over deceptive practices noted in the 2023‑2024 fine settlement.
In the UK, regulators investigated Amazon’s product listings and fake reviews. The Australian case joins a growing list of global regulatory actions against the company’s competitive practices.
