Amazon Hit With Antitrust Fine In Italy Over “Subscribe And Save” Option
In a move to protect consumers, Italy’s antitrust authority has hit Amazon with a €10 million ($10.70 million) fine for what it considers unfair business practices. The issue revolves around Amazon’s “Subscribe and Save” option, which allows customers to set up automatic recurring deliveries of certain products.
According to Italian regulators, Amazon automatically enrolled customers in “Subscribe and Save” for a wide range of products, instead of presenting the option for a one-time purchase as the default. This pre-selection, the watchdog argues, unfairly nudged customers towards subscriptions they might not necessarily want, limiting their freedom of choice and potentially leading to unintended recurring purchases.
This is not the first time Italian authorities have tangled with Amazon. In 2021, the retail giant was fined a whopping €1.13 billion for allegedly giving preferential treatment to its own logistics service, squeezing out competition.