Amazon might face consequences for its latest change to Prime Video

In January, Amazon made a major change to its Prime Video service. The company decided to introduce ads to Prime Video content and offered customers the option to remove them for an extra $2.99 a month on top of their $8.99 monthly subscription fee.

Now, it appears that there may be consequences for that change as a class action lawsuit has been filed against Amazon that claims the move was allegedly “deceptive” and “unfair,” and violates state consumer protection laws.

“To stream movies and tv shows without ads, Amazon customers must now pay an additional $2.99 per month. This is true even for people who purchased the yearly, ad-free subscription, and who are now mid-way through their subscription,” reads the lawsuit. “This is not fair, because these subscribers already paid for the ad-free version; these subscribers should not have to pay an additional $2.99/month for something that they already paid for.”

Related: Amazon cuts two beloved Prime Video features and is charging extra for them

The lawsuit, which was filed on Feb. 9 in California, alleges that Amazon falsely advertised its Prime Video service and that the change violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Law which states that “unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices” are unlawful in trade or commerce.

The lawsuit also claims that the change from Amazon violates California’s Unfair Competition Law which “bans ‘unlawful, unfair or fraudulent’ business acts and practices.”

“Amazon advertised ‘commercial-free’ Prime Video for years, to induce consumers to purchase its Prime subscription,” reads the lawsuit. “Reasonable consumers, who rely on Amazon to provide accurate and truthful information about its services, cannot reasonably avoid this injury. And Amazon’s actions offer no countervailing benefits — misrepresenting its service harms both consumers and honest competition.”

The lawsuit seeks $5 million in damages, restitution in the alternative and an injunction which would ban Amazon from acting in similar alleged behavior in the future.

It is no surprise that Amazon is facing a lawsuit over its recent change to Prime Video as several customers expressed outrage over the decision on social media in December when it was first announced.

To make matters worse, it was also just revealed that Amazon even cut two features, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, from Prime Video, which can now only be accessed if customers pay $2.99 a month to remove ads.

This recent lawsuit was also filed the day after Amazon was sued for its alleged “biased algorithm” which several customers in the suit claim that the company uses as a way to hide cheaper offers on items on product pages in its online store. 

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