Topic file
US case files on subscription traps, repair rights and the consumer rules that shape digital products.
19 case files · 10 decided · 2 open · 5 alleged · 2 company record
United States cases track FTC enforcement, subscription lawsuits, repair access and the rules governing recurring digital products. Federal action often sits beside state law, settlements and private court cases, so each file states whether a claim is an allegation, order or final finding.
The collection connects policy to implementation: cancellation endpoints, billing records, marketplace controls and the technical locks that determine what an owner can repair or preserve.
For an unwanted subscription, record who bills you, when the trial became paid, how you attempted to cancel and what confirmation you received. Check later statements instead of assuming a closed app or unused account means the payments have stopped.
The FTC’s subscription guide explains how to review renewal terms, keep cancellation records and respond when unwanted charges continue. Use that practical guidance alongside the case file rather than treating an enforcement headline as a cancellation instruction.
Read any refund programme’s own eligibility terms. A settlement amount is not the amount each person receives, and the covered dates, transactions and application process matter. Preserve your original records before closing the account involved.
A US FTC draft warns that a retailer may mislead customers if it presents a price as ordinary while secretly using their personal data to decide what they will pay.
The US Federal Trade Commission and 22 states allege Amazon secretly changed the pricing of its sponsored product auctions, raising costs for advertisers and potentially flowing through to shoppers.
Connected hardware can turn a durable object into an account, advertising and data-collection relationship. A recent FTC order involving GM and OnStar shows why the physical product is no longer the whole product.
Dating services sell hope, attention and subscriptions at the same time. The product test is whether the bill, cancellation route and claims about connection remain honest when the user is vulnerable to urgency.
The FTC’s antitrust case alleges that Amazon’s growing seller, fulfilment and advertising fees turned paid placement into a practical cost of reaching shoppers. The case remains unresolved.
The US FTC finalised orders against Cox Media Group and two partner firms that sold an “Active Listening” service claiming to target ads from conversations picked up by smart devices, a capability the FTC says the service did not have.
The companies behind the Hopper travel apps agreed to pay US$35 million to settle US allegations that they pre-selected fees described as optional and misrepresented some travel-product benefits.
America’s federal click-to-cancel rule was struck down days before taking effect. The dark pattern survived the reform designed to kill it.
The US Federal Trade Commission alleges a network behind fitness, productivity, PDF and astrology products used hidden renewals, unauthorised charges and difficult cancellation across changing brands.
California’s Protect Our Games Act would require publishers that shut down online games to offer a refund or a version that can keep running without the operator’s services.
Shutterstock agreed to pay US$35 million to settle US allegations that it obscured renewal and cancellation terms, charged some consumers without informed consent, and made early cancellation difficult.
The FTC says Shutterstock charged consumers without informed consent and built a cancellation process that pushed people through support channels instead of a simple exit.
The US FTC is pursuing Uber over allegations that its Uber One membership charged people without consent, overstated savings and made cancellation difficult despite “cancel anytime” claims.
GitHub publishes DMCA notices and says Copilot’s training on public repositories is lawful. Developers still have to ask who gets attribution when an assistant reproduces familiar code.
US regulators say NGL used messages that appeared to come from real people to steer users into paid subscriptions, then charged some users recurring weekly fees they did not expect.
A 2026 price increase touched every Netflix tier, continuing a pattern in which streaming services move customers from growth pricing to extraction pricing.
US environmental guidance says manufacturers cannot use emissions law as a reason to withhold repair tools or software from farm-equipment owners and independent repairers.
A $2.5 billion FTC settlement over Prime enrollment and cancellation practices turned a notorious dark pattern into a refund process.
The US Federal Trade Commission says Amazon’s US$2.5 billion Prime settlement includes refunds for eligible customers affected by challenged enrolment and cancellation flows.