The watchdog said Amazon wrote its contracts in a way that let the company lower service quality on its own, without giving customers any reasonable way to challenge the change.
The Ad-Free Fee Dispute
The core issue stems from Amazon’s July 2024 decision to introduce ads on Prime Video. Many customers had already paid an upfront A$79 annual fee for an ad‑free service. To keep that experience, they were suddenly required to pay an extra A$2.99 per month.
The ACCC argues that Amazon effectively “unilaterally degraded” the service without offering pro‑rata refunds or compensation to affected subscribers.
The lawsuit targets both Amazon Australia and its U.S. parent, Amazon.com Services LLC. The ACCC claims the U.S. entity helped draft the contract terms and played a direct role in the global rollout of ads on Prime Video.
