Australia's competition authority has initiated legal proceedings against the Australian arm of Amazon, alleging that changes to Prime subscription contracts allowed advertising to be added to Prime Video and produced adverse outcomes for affected subscribers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says its court filing covers conduct taking place between November 2023 and August 2025. According to the regulator, more than 1 million annual Prime subscribers in Australia experienced negative contractual changes during that period without receiving compensation.
The ACCC's complaint highlights a policy shift implemented after July 2024. Under the terms cited by the regulator, subscribers who wished to continue streaming Prime Video without advertisements were required to pay an additional A$2.99 per month, even if they had already paid A$79 up front for an annual subscription.
In its statement, the ACCC further alleges that Amazon.com Services LLC - the U.S.-based entity - was knowingly concerned in the Australian unit's actions. The regulator says the U.S. entity was involved in drafting the Australian contracts that contained the terms now under challenge.
The legal remedies the ACCC is pursuing include declarations, financial penalties, consumer redress, recovery of costs and other orders the court deems appropriate. The filing does not, in the regulator's description, quantify penalty levels or the form that redress would take.
Amazon did not immediately provide a response when approached for comment. The statement accompanying the ACCC's action included a currency reference: $1 = 1.4522 Australian dollars.
This court action frames a dispute centered on contract terms and consumer-facing changes to a subscription streaming service. The regulator's focus, as described in its filing, is on the fairness of contract provisions and whether downstream consumers were left to shoulder extra costs despite prior annual payments.
Further procedural steps, including any court timetable or detailed submissions from the company, were not included in the ACCC's summary. The regulator's request to the court seeks broadly defined relief aimed at addressing the alleged unfair contract terms and their effects on subscribers.
Context and implications
As stated by the ACCC, the case targets contractual language and corporate involvement in drafting those provisions. The regulator's remedies seek to both halt the challenged conduct and secure compensation and costs where appropriate.