Australia sues Amazon for making allegedly unfair contracts with subscribers

Australia's consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has sued Amazon in Australia. The ACCC alleges that Amazon broke consumer protection law by introducing advertisements into its Prime Video service through unfair contract terms. This action allegedly impacted over a million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025. According to the ACCC chair, consumers were compelled to pay more to retain an ad-free service they had initially subscribed to. When Amazon began rolling out ads globally in early 2024, Australian subscribers were informed they would need to pay an additional monthly fee to keep Prime Video ad-free, increasing the cost. The ACCC noted that at that time, over 850,000 Australians had already paid for a year of the Prime service.

Australia's competition regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has filed a lawsuit against Amazon's Australian unit. The ACCC alleges that Amazon Australia included unfair terms in its annual Prime subscription contracts. These terms allegedly allowed Amazon to introduce advertising to its Prime Video streaming service without offering compensation to over one million annual subscribers. The ACCC claims these unfair contract terms were used between November 2023 and August 2025 to implement negative changes for subscribers. The regulator is seeking legal action over these alleged practices.