Australia's competition regulator has filed a case against Amazon's Australian unit over alleged unfair terms in its Prime subscription contracts that allowed the firm to introduce advertising to Amazon Prime Video. The ACCC commenced Federal Court proceedings against Amazon Commercial Services Pty Ltd, alleging it used five unfair contract terms in Prime contracts with more than one million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025. These terms allegedly allowed Amazon AU to unilaterally make negative changes during the contract period without offering a remedy, and the regulator says the unit later relied on one or more of these terms when it introduced ads to Prime Video in Australia in July 2024. After that change, subscribers who wanted ad-free streaming had to pay an additional $2.99 per month, even though annual subscribers had already paid $79 upfront. The ACCC also alleges that Amazon's US unit, Amazon.com Services LLC, was knowingly concerned in the conduct, having been involved in drafting the Australian contracts and making the global decision to introduce advertising.
Amazon.com IncACCC sues Amazon over allegedly unfair Prime contract terms allowing unilateral introduction of ads to Prime Video.