Amazon leaders were ‘okay’ with people being secretly signed up for Prime, lawsuit alleges


Illustration of Amazon’s wordmark on an orange, black, and tan background made up of overlapping lines.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Amazon executives were “okay” with people being secretly signed up for its Amazon Prime membership program, the FTC said in an amended lawsuit on Wednesday (as reported by The Wall Street Journal).

The original lawsuit, filed in June, claimed that Amazon had tricked millions into unwittingly subscribing to Prime through buttons that were presented prominently during checkout. The FTC added new details to back up its claims on Wednesday, including internal messages and the names of three senior Amazon leaders who allegedly “played a key role” in the scheme.

The executives include two of Amazon’s most senior leaders at the time, Neil Lindsay — the senior vice president who oversaw Prime — and Russell Grandinetti, Amazon’s senior vice...

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