The class-action lawsuit over Amazon Prime Video ads was dismissed with prejudice on July 16, 2025, when U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein ruled that Amazon’s subscriber agreements gave the company the right to add commercials to the service.1Variety. Amazon Class Action Lawsuit Prime Video Ads Dismissed The plaintiffs have appealed to the Ninth Circuit, and that appeal is still pending.2MediaPost. Amazon Prime Subscribers Want Appeals Court to Reverse Dismissal
What Subscribers Claimed
Amazon began showing ads during Prime Video shows and movies on January 29, 2024. Every existing Prime member and standalone Prime Video subscriber was automatically moved to the ad-supported tier, and anyone who wanted to keep watching without commercials had to pay an extra $2.99 per month.3CBS News. Amazon Prime Video Ads Subscription Streaming
Two weeks later, on February 9, 2024, a California subscriber named Wilbert Napoleon filed a class-action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.4ClassAction.org. Amazon Prime Video Lawsuit Says Extra Fee to Remove Ads Is Illegal The theory was a bait and switch: subscribers had paid for what they understood to be ad-free streaming, and Amazon had degraded that service while charging extra to restore it. Three similar suits followed, and the court consolidated them as In re Amazon Prime Video Litigation, Case No. 2:24-cv-00186.5CourtListener. In Re Amazon Prime Video Litigation The consolidated claims arose under the Washington Consumer Protection Act, several California consumer-protection statutes, and common-law breach of contract.
Why the Court Dismissed the Case
Judge Rothstein had already granted an earlier motion to dismiss in February 2025 with leave to amend. When the plaintiffs refiled in March using largely the same theories, Amazon moved again, and this time the dismissal came with prejudice, blocking any further amendment.6CaseMine. In Re Amazon Prime Video Litigation
The reasoning turned on a few connected points.
The court characterized the ad rollout as a modification of subscription benefits rather than a price increase. The base subscription fee did not change for anyone who took no action. Only subscribers who chose the $2.99 ad-free add-on paid more, and they opted in voluntarily.7Deadline. Class Action Suit Against Amazon Ads Prime Video Dismissed
Both the Amazon Prime Terms and Conditions and the Prime Video Terms of Use gave Amazon “sole discretion” to add or remove membership benefits and to modify the service at any time. Because the contracts expressly permitted the change, performing it could not amount to a breach.8Courthouse News Service. Customers Lose Class Action Over Amazon Prime Ads
The judge also rejected the bait-and-switch framing. Given the broad reservation of rights in the agreements subscribers accepted, any belief that Prime Video would remain ad-free indefinitely was not a reasonable expectation the court could enforce.1Variety. Amazon Class Action Lawsuit Prime Video Ads Dismissed
The statutory and good-faith claims fell for the same underlying reason. Exercising a contractually permitted right cannot be an unfair or deceptive practice under the Washington Consumer Protection Act, and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing cannot be used to override express contract terms.8Courthouse News Service. Customers Lose Class Action Over Amazon Prime Ads Judge Rothstein noted that plaintiffs had now taken three shots at pleading viable claims using “substantially similar theories,” and further amendment would not be allowed.6CaseMine. In Re Amazon Prime Video Litigation
The Appeal at the Ninth Circuit
By mid-August 2025, the plaintiffs had filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, seeking reversal of the dismissal. The appeal remains pending, and as of the most recent reporting the subscribers had not yet filed their substantive arguments.2MediaPost. Amazon Prime Subscribers Want Appeals Court to Reverse Dismissal Unless the Ninth Circuit reverses, the case is over.
Not the Same Case as the FTC Settlement
A different Amazon Prime case, brought by the Federal Trade Commission, ended in a $2.5 billion settlement on September 25, 2025, and is easy to confuse with the ads lawsuit. It is not the same matter. The FTC case concerned how Amazon signed people up for Prime and how difficult it made cancellation, not the introduction of commercials to Prime Video.9FTC. FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon
The FTC settlement includes $1.5 billion in consumer refunds for roughly 35 million affected subscribers, with eligible customers able to receive up to $51.9FTC. FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon10FTC. Who’s Eligible for a Refund from Amazon11FTC. Amazon Refunds12ABC7 New York. How to Claim Amazon Refund Prime Membership The settlement administrator can be reached at www.SubscriptionMembershipSettlement.com or 1-888-999-8094. The FTC has warned that it will never call, text, or demand a fee to release refund funds; any such contact is a scam.
No comparable refund exists for the Prime Video ads dispute. That case ended without any recovery for subscribers, and the ad-supported tier remains the default on Prime Video for anyone who does not pay the additional $2.99 per month.