Amazon faces a class-action lawsuit over its Prime Video streaming service.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the e-commerce giant has been accused of misleading Prime subscribers by charging them an additional fee to stream movies and TV shows ad-free.
A proposed class action lawsuit was filed on Friday with a California federal court. The suit includes complaints of breach of contract, false advertising, unfair competition, and violations of state consumer protection laws from users who claim the terms of their subscriptions were suddenly changed when Amazon made their ad-supported tier the default, per THR.
Last year, Amazon, whose video streaming service was previously “commercial-free,” announced plans to activate ads for all Prime Video viewers. Users who don’t want to watch ads can pay an extra $2.99 per month.
However, users who signed up for an annual subscription also had ads turned on. Those customers claim that the sudden change is deceptive.
“Subscribers must now pay extra to get something they already paid for,” states the complaint, as reviewed by the Hollywood Reporter.
The proposed class action lawsuit reportedly seeks $5 million. Amazon did not respond to THR’s request for comment.
