An Australian regulator in the area of competition and consumer protection said on Tuesday that it has begun court proceedings against Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) over alleged violations of consumer protection legislation in connection with the Prime Video service.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that Amazon included unfair contract terms in Prime subscription agreements, and subsequently used them to run advertising in the Prime Video streaming service.
“Consumers who wanted to avoid ads were forced to pay more to maintain the level of service they had originally subscribed to,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
According to the ACCC, from November 2023 to August 2025, Amazon Prime contracts contained five unfair terms on which the company relied when introducing advertising on Prime Video in July 2024.
Subscribers had to pay an additional A$2.99 per month to keep watching without ads, even though they had already paid $79 for the service in advance, the ACCC noted.
The regulator said it is seeking court rulings, penalties, compensation for consumers, reimbursement of legal costs, and other measures, but did not specify the type of compensation required.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment sent by email.