* Taylor Lodise is a law clerk in the Litigation practice group.
On November 9, 2022, amidst ongoing investigations by the FTC regarding “dark patterns” that Amazon allegedly employed to discourage subscribers from canceling their Amazon Prime memberships, a class-action lawsuit named Amazon as a defendant. The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington and is styled Dorobiala v. Amazon.com, Inc.
As we have discussed previously, the prevalence of Internet usage in everyday life has led to an e-commerce market whereby consumers are able to post online reviews of a vast range of products and services. For the most part, such reviews are made public without regard to the relevant expertise of the reviewers, and with little to no oversight as to the legitimacy of such reviews. You can see our prior articles on this topic here and here. Against this backdrop, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has brought a claim against a marketer for the deceptive use of fake, paid-for reviews on an independent retail website for the first time. The FTC’s enforcement efforts in this regard should signal to marketers that the FTC is taking such actions seriously.
Federal Trade Commission v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:14-cv-01038 (W.D. Wash.) April 26, 2016
The FTC has filed a complaint against Amazon.com, Inc. alleging the company has billed parents and other account holders for millions of dollars in unauthorized in-app charges incurred by children.
On February 1, 2013, the FTC released its latest privacy-focused report, Mobile Privacy Disclosures: Building Trust Through Transparency.