On Monday, a coalition composed of nearly two dozen U.S. states, together with the District of Columbia, formally submitted an amended complaint expanding the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing lawsuit against the technology and ride‑hailing giant Uber. This collective legal action represents a significant escalation in the governmental scrutiny of the company’s subscription practices. According to the updated filing, the states and the FTC allege that Uber engaged in a series of deceptive and unauthorized billing activities related to its membership program, Uber One. Specifically, the complaint contends that consumers were charged for Uber One subscriptions without having provided clear or informed consent; that the company wrongfully initiated subscription fees before the expiration of supposedly free trial periods; and that Uber distributed promotional materials containing exaggerated or misleading claims regarding the amount of money consumers could expect to save by enrolling in the service.
In addition to these monetary concerns, the lawsuit asserts that individuals who attempted to cancel their Uber One memberships encountered an exceptionally burdensome and confusing process designed, whether intentionally or not, to discourage cancellation. The complaint reports that subscribers were allegedly required to navigate through a long and complex series of digital steps — in some instances involving up to twenty‑three separate screens and as many as thirty‑two discrete user actions — before the cancellation could be successfully completed. Such a process, regulators argue, imposes an unreasonable amount of friction on consumers, effectively undermining the principles of transparency and consent that govern subscription‑based commerce.
The states that formally joined the action include Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, alongside the District of Columbia. Their coordinated participation demonstrates a rare and broad bipartisan alignment in favor of strengthening consumer protection standards in the rapidly expanding digital marketplace. According to an official press release, this expanded complaint not only reiterates the substantive claims regarding improper charges and misleading marketing, but also introduces an enhanced request for civil penalties. These penalties would address the alleged violations of both the federal Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and various complementary state consumer protection statutes that embody similar principles of honest disclosure and voluntary consent.
When the Federal Trade Commission initially filed its case, Uber publicly rejected the allegations, offering a firm denial of any misconduct. In a statement provided to the technology publication *The Verge*, the company asserted that its policies had already evolved to make the subscription experience fairer and more streamlined for users. Uber maintained that cancellations are now straightforward and can be completed entirely within the app interface, typically taking most users no longer than twenty seconds. This defensive position underscores Uber’s broader strategy of portraying itself as responsive to consumer feedback and regulatory concerns, while still disputing the characterization of its earlier practices as unlawful. The outcome of this litigation, now reinforced by the participation of twenty‑one states and the District of Columbia, is poised to set an important precedent for how digital platforms implement, market, and manage subscription models in an era of increasing demand for transparency and user empowerment.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/845071/ftc-uber-lawsuit-21-states-amended-complaint
