The Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit accusing Amazon of a massive digital bait-and-switch has now gone to trial. The government is arguing that the company baited customers with a simple checkout process, only to switch them into a complex subscription trap from which it was difficult to escape.
The “bait,” according to the FTC, was the promise of a straightforward purchase. However, the use of “dark patterns” in the checkout interface allegedly switched many users into a Prime membership they never intended to buy.
The “switch” was fully realized when a customer tried to cancel, the FTC contends. Instead of the simple process they might have expected, they were confronted with the “Iliad” cancellation maze, a deliberately confusing system that did not match the ease of the initial sign-up.
This “bait-and-switch” framing is a classic consumer protection argument, now being applied to the sophisticated world of user interface design. The FTC is asserting that these digital tactics are just a high-tech version of an old and illegal scam.
Amazon is strongly denying any bait-and-switch. The company will argue that the terms of the Prime offer were always clear and that customers were never misled. Its defense is that it presented a valuable offer, which many customers chose to accept, and that the process was transparent.