The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced on Tuesday that it has commenced court action against Amazon.com Inc over the Prime Video service, asserting the company breached consumer law by including unfair contract terms in its Prime subscription agreements and then invoking those terms to introduce advertising.
According to the ACCC, Amazon inserted five unfair contract terms into Prime subscription contracts during the period between November 2023 and August 2025. The regulator says those terms were relied upon when Amazon introduced advertisements to its Prime Video streaming offering in July 2024.
The ACCC highlighted the impact on subscribers, noting that people who had paid A$79 up front for Prime were later left with the only practical option of paying an additional A$2.99 per month to retain ad-free viewing. In a statement, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said: "Consumers who wanted to avoid ads were left with no choice but to pay more to maintain the service they’d initially signed up for."
The regulator is seeking a range of remedies through the courts, including declarations, civil penalties, consumer redress, costs, and other orders. The ACCC did not provide specifics on the form or amount of any proposed restitution for affected consumers.
An Amazon Australia spokesperson said the company was reviewing the court proceedings and confirmed that Amazon had cooperated with the ACCC during its investigation.
This action by the ACCC centers on the intersection of subscription terms and advertising changes to a streaming service. The complaint identifies a precise timeline for the contested contract terms and for Amazon's decision to add ads. It also highlights the financial consequence asserted by the regulator: subscribers who had already paid for Prime were later asked to pay a recurring fee to avoid advertising.
At this stage, the case will proceed through the Australian courts, with remedies sought by the ACCC yet to be specified in detail.