United States: The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against Uber, accusing the ride-hailing and delivery company of deceptive practices related to its Uber One subscription service.
According to the complaint, the FTC alleges that Uber enrolled customers in the $9.99-per-month (or $96-per-year) service without obtaining proper consent and made it purposefully difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson stated that, “The Trump-Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the American people.” Ferguson, a Trump appointee, took charge earlier this year after President Donald Trump commenced his second term in office.
The FTC claims that consumers trying to cancel were forced to navigate up to 23 different screens and perform as many as 32 separate actions.
The company added that earlier versions of the cancellation process required contacting support within 48 hours of the next billing cycle, but that policy is no longer in place.
In addition to the cancellation concerns, the FTC also claims that some consumers were set for Uber One despite not consenting to enrolment, noting reports from users who say they were billed without even having an Uber account. Uber responded that, it does not enrol or charge users without their approval.
This marks the FTC’s first legal action against a major tech company since Trump returned to office. The commission is also in the middle of a high-profile antitrust case against Meta, questioning its past acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
Meta has pushed back against the claims, the FTC had already reviewed and approved the deals years ago and called the case ‘misguided.’
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