❌ Amazon Prime “trickery”
Hey Snackers,
There’s a new streaming website where you are the main character. The downside: it’s called youareawful.com. Netflix launched Streamberry, a “Black Mirror''-inspired site that lets users share their photos (and data) to see a poster of their lives dramatized for TV.
Stocks fell for the third straight session, with the techy Nasdaq leading the dip. Yesterday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told House members that the fight against inflation still has “a long way to go” before reaching the central bank’s 2% target.
The FTC sues Amazon, saying it used “trickery” and sabotaged consumers’ attempts to cancel Prime
You can log out any time you like… but you can never leave? The FTC sued Amazon yesterday, saying it fooled millions of customers into signing up for Prime with “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive” user interfaces — and then intentionally made it hard for them to cancel their subscriptions. It’s the most aggressive FTC action against Amazon under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan, a staunch critic of Big Tech power.
Primed or punked? Khan alleged that “Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent.”
Homeric effort: The suit says that Amazon internally referred to the process for canceling Prime as “The Iliad,” the epic Greek poem about the Trojan War.
Sure you wanna cancel? After all, you’ve only been asked five times. Prime members pay $140/year for “free” two-day shipping, plus other perks like streaming. Nearly 75% of all US households are estimated to have a Prime account, but growth has reportedly slumped. By one estimate, Prime finished last year with 168M US subscribers, down from 170M in 2021. That would mark the first time Prime growth stalled in the US (Amazon doesn’t share country-specific membership #s). As sub growth and online shopping slow, Amazon reportedly plans to launch an ad tier for Prime to drum up fresh revenue.
Convenience can’t be used conveniently… Amazon has made it #frictionless to enroll in Prime and order online (think: one click), but it also uses a “four-page, six-click, fifteen-option cancellation process,” the FTC said. Having an inconvenient cancellation option is convenient for many companies. But retaining customers could get harder as the FTC looks to crack down on designs that make it tricky for consumers to cancel services.
Roblox invites users to create mature content for its growing young-adult user base
Not just for kids… Roblox is about to look a little more like “Grand Theft Auto.” The tween-favorite gaming platform said that, for the first time, it’ll let some users create mature content, including experiences featuring blood, alcohol, and (unplayable) casinos. The content will be restricted to users 17 and older, who’ll have to verify their age by uploading a selfie and ID.
Kidults: Until 2021, kids under 13 made up the majority of Roblox’s users. But that flipped this year, with Roblox notching a record number of daily users over 13 and saying 17- to 24-year-olds are now its fastest-growing demo.
Intentional: Roblox CEO David Baszucki shared a “vision for all ages” manifesto in May, outlining the platform’s plan to appeal to older users.
Problem child(s)… Roblox’s main moneymaker is its virtual currency, called Robux, which users are encouraged to buy (or ask their parents to buy) after seeing in-game ads for items and experiences. But after a watchdog group filed an FTC complaint about these ads being served to kids, Roblox wiped them from the under-13 experience. Branded Roblox experiences, like Nikeland and Froot Loops World, have come under scrutiny too. Last year it started adding in-game ads directly from brands but barred younger kids from seeing them.
It pays to grow up with your users… and Roblox is now 17. By appealing to non-tween audiences with more mature content like gory horror games and experiences like a Mariah Carey concert and a “Super NFL Tycoon” simulation, Roblox can make more $$ from more people. Now that it can’t serve ads to kids, older users are more important than ever — and they’re less likely to get grounded for buying too many Robux.
What else we’re Snackin’
Cluck: The USDA approved the sale of “cell-cultivated” chicken from two startups, making the US the second country to OK lab-grown chicken. The companies aim to fill meat demand without slaughtering animals.
Titan: Logitech's stock fell after reports that its gamepad may’ve been used to steer the now missing Titan submersible. It vanished Sunday with five people on board while trying to explore the Titanic’s wreckage.
Takeoff: Indian airline IndiGo ordered 500 jets from Airbus in a multibillion-dollar deal — the largest plane deal ever — as carriers expand to the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.
SoledOut: Iconic Wellington boot maker Hunter went under following supply snags, unseasonably warm weather, and inflation. The 165-year-old brand became popular with festivalgoers and #cottagecore celebs.
Basta: Italian consumer groups are coming down al dente on pasta makers like Barilla, De Cecco, and Panzani, accusing them of greedflation as EU pasta prices rise at twice the rate of inflation.
Thursday
Initial jobless claims and existing-home sales
Earnings expected from Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants and Accenture
Authors of this Snacks own shares of Amazon