Shares of Amazon.com Inc. AMZN fell 0.8% in morning trading, after the Federal Trade Commission said it has taken action against the ecommerce giant, alleging the company manipulated consumers into enrolling in Amazon Prime without their consent. The FTC suit comes after Amazon unveiled that its Prime Day sales event will take place July 11 to July 12. The WSJ report says the FTC alleges Amazon used “manipulative, coercive or deceptive” user-interface designs, known as “dark patterns,” to “trick consumers into enrolling into automatically renewing Prime subscriptions,” which signing up for the Prime service, which costs $14.99 a month, or $139 a year. The FTC also alleges Amazon’s Prime cancellation process is designed to deter consumers from unsubscribing from Prime. The vote authorizing the FTC staff to file a complaint was 3-0. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The stock has run up 48.5% year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 13.8%.
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