Amazon is facing legal action in Australia after the country’s competition regulator accused the company of unfairly introducing advertisements on its Prime Video service and making customers pay extra to watch without ads.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Tuesday it had filed a case in the Federal Court, alleging Amazon breached consumer law by including unfair terms in its Prime subscription contracts. The regulator said Amazon later relied on those terms to introduce advertisements on Prime Video in 2024, according to Bloomberg.
The ACCC alleged that between November 2023 and August 2025, Amazon Australia used those contract terms to make changes to Prime Video for more than one million annual subscribers without providing any compensation, according to Reuters.
“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,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
An additional fee
The ACCC added that more than one million Prime subscribers, who had already paid an annual fee of A$79 (US$54), were left with a choice of either watching advertisements or paying an additional A$2.99 a month for an ad-free experience. The regulator is seeking penalties against Amazon, along with compensation for affected consumers.
The regulator also claimed that Amazon’s US headquarters was involved in the Australian unit’s decision to draft the subscription contracts and introduce advertisements, according to Bloomberg.
‘Reviewing the case’, says Amazon Australia
In an emailed statement to Reuters, an Amazon Australia spokesperson said the company was “reviewing the case filed by the ACCC in detail” and had cooperated with the regulator throughout its investigation.
ACCC’s investigation into Amazon Australia’s subscription contracts began after it received complaints from consumers following the introduction of advertisements on Prime Video in 2024, Reuters reported.
Last year, Amazon agreed to pay US$2.5 billion in penalties and refunds in the United States and changed the way customers cancel their Prime subscriptions to settle a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission.
Prime Video’s ad-supported service
Prime Video advertisements are currently available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.
In all these markets, customers have the option of paying an additional fee for an ad-free viewing experience.
(With inputs from Reuters, Bloomberg)
