The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed a complaint stating that, for years, Amazon has “knowingly duped” consumers into signing up for Prime subscriptions and then complicated their attempts to cancel.
The FTC alleges that Amazon “tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent” through manipulative, coercive or deceptive interface design tactics, known as “dark patterns.”
Internal documents reveal that Amazon code-named the drawn-out process of cancelling Prime as “Iliad.” This, as the complaint points out, alludes to the ancient Greek epic about the long and arduous Trojan War.
Our work reveals how dark patterns play a key role in keeping users active on social media — despite their intentions and efforts to leave.