A federal judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit claiming Amazon’s addition of ads to Prime Video in 2024 amounted to a hidden price hike.
U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein ruled that introducing ads was a permissible change in service benefits under Amazon’s contract, not a violation of pricing terms, because only users who opted to pay an extra $2.99 per month to remove ads experienced any price change. She noted that all subscribers agree to a contract when they join Prime that gives Amazon the ability to alter the nature of the services provided under the contract.
Losing this lawsuit was completely the fault of the attorneys.
The attorneys unsuccessfully tried three times to argue that losing the ad-free benefit counted as hidden price change, causing the lawsuit to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. They repeatedly went about this the wrong way.
For years, ad-free streaming was one of the key selling points of a Prime membership prior to adding ads in 2024. The class-action lawsuit should have gone after Amazon for false advertising.
The court ruled that Amazon's contractual terms gave it the right to change benefits, however, statements made in advertising, emails, and on Amazon's website could have formed the basis for a false advertising or deceptive marketing, especially if they had argued that consumers relied on those claims when subscribing or renewing — which they clearly did.
So unfortunate! I would I have loved to see Amazon pay for this one.
