A judge has dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Amazon over the use of ads on Prime Video. The lawsuit was originally filed in February 2024, soon after Amazon introduced commercial breaks to Prime Video and charged an additional $2.99 a month to remove the ads.
At the time, the lawsuit claimed that the introduction of ads, and an ad-free fee, was ‘unfair.’ The logic here was that many Amazon Prime subscribers had already paid in advance for a year of Prime, and had paid under the assumption they would receive an ad-free Prime Video streaming experience.
With an expectation of an ad-free experience at the time of payment, the plaintiffs argued that the introduction of an ad-free fee was the equivalent of an unauthorized price increase, resulting in false advertising, a breach of contract, and a violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act.
Basically, the lawsuit claimed that it was unfair that subscribers now had to pay more each month to receive the same level of service they were offered when signing up.
As reported by Reuters, U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein in Seattle disagreed with this argument, dismissing the lawsuit in the process.
The primary reason behind the dismissal was that the Prime benefit modification was deemed to be in accordance with Amazon’s terms of service. Terms that Prime members had already agreed to.
With the lawsuit permanently dismissed, it remains unclear if there is any path forward now. While it is possible that the decision could be appealed, it remains to be seen how successful an appeal would be.
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