ACCC Takes Amazon To Court Over Unfair Prime Video Ad Contract Terms

Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission has taken Amazon to court, alleging that Amazon foisted unfair Prime Video contract terms on consumers and allowed it to add advertising to its video streaming platform.

“- Published Australia's consumer watchdog has sued Amazon, claiming the tech giant introduced adverts in Prime Video using allegedly unfair contract terms”

BBC

The ACCC alleges the conduct occurred between November 2023 and August 2025, and that subscribers who wanted ad-free streaming had to pay an additional A$2.99 per month after ads were introduced in July 2024.

BBC

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said, "We allege that Amazon AU included multiple unfair terms in its contracts with Australian annual Prime subscribers, and it then relied on some of these terms to bring ads onto Amazon Prime Video," as the regulator sought consumer redress, penalties, costs, declarations and other orders.

The BBC reported that the ACCC said Amazon broke consumer protection law by making the unfair contracts with over a million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025, and that consumers who wanted to avoid ads were left with no choice but to pay more.

The BBC also said Prime Video was commercial-free for more than a decade in Australia and that Prime became available in Australia in 2018, before advertising began rolling out in early 2024.

The ACCC alleged that Amazon introduced advertisements on Prime Video in July 2024 and required annual Prime subscribers to either accept the ads or pay an additional AU$2.99 per month for an ad-free experience.

Information Age said the regulator claimed that despite more than 850,000 subscribers of Prime Video having paid $79 upfront for an annual subscription, Amazon used its contract terms to introduce ads in July 2024 "without any contractual entitlement to a pro rata refund or other meaningful redress".

Benzinga

CNBC said the ACCC alleged that the contracts required more than a million annual Prime subscribers to accept advertising or pay an additional AU$2.99 ($2.05) per month for an ad-free option when Amazon introduced ads into Prime Video service in July 2024.

Reuters coverage cited by WHBL News said the ACCC alleged that between November 2023 and August 2025 Amazon Australia used unfair Prime contract terms to make negative changes for over 1 million annual subscribers without offering compensation.

In a statement reported by CNBC, an Amazon Australia spokesperson said, "We are reviewing the case filed by the ACCC in detail. We have cooperated with the ACCC throughout its investigation and remain focused on providing the best experience for our Australian customers," after the regulator said it began investigating following consumer reports about ads in July 2024.

The ACCC said it is seeking declarations, penalties, consumer redress, legal costs, declarations that the contract terms were unfair and additional court orders, after it launched legal proceedings against Amazon’s Australian business.

“Australia's competition regulator is taking Amazon's Australian unit to court, alleging that unfair terms in its Prime subscription contracts allowed the company to introduce advertising to its video streaming platform”

CNBC

Information Age said that if Amazon is found to have breached Australian Consumer Law, it could face a penalty in the tens of millions of dollars, and it described a maximum financial penalty as the greater of 30 per cent of the company’s adjusted turnover during the breach, three times the benefit it obtained from the conduct, or $50,000,000.

MediaPost reported that the ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said, "We allege that Amazon AU included multiple unfair terms in its contracts with Australian annual Prime subscribers," as the regulator argued the terms were used to bring ads onto Amazon Prime Video.

Benzinga said Amazon shares closed 3.2% higher at $240.14 on Monday and edged up another 0.1% to $240.37 in premarket trading Tuesday, while the ACCC’s case targets the Prime Video ad rollout and the alleged lack of refunds for unused portions.

The BBC added that the ACCC said Amazon relied on five unfair terms in contracts with over a million customers signed between 1 November 2023 and 18 August 2025, including terms permitting Amazon Australia to unilaterally make materially adverse changes without any contractual entitlement for subscribers to receive refunds or other meaningful redress.