They made leaving an epic.
Amazon named its Prime cancellation process the "Iliad Flow," after Homer's 16,000-line war poem, because getting out was built to feel like a long, punishing journey. We didn't make that up. It's in a federal complaint.
The odyssey to cancel
Signing up for Prime took a click or two. Cancelling, according to the FTC's complaint, ran you through a four-page, six-click, fifteen-option gauntlet: a recap of everything you'd "lose," discount offers, benefit reminders, and big friendly "Remind Me Later" and "Keep My Membership" buttons, with the actual exit buried and easy to miss.
Internally, Amazon called it the Iliad Flow. After the friction went in, one set of leaked figures showed Prime cancellations dropping by roughly 14 percent. Working exactly as designed.
How it came out
Business Insider surfaced the internal "Project Iliad" documents in 2022, based on leaked Amazon files. The next year, the Federal Trade Commission sued.
In June 2023 the FTC accused Amazon of using "dark patterns" to enroll people in Prime without clear consent and to deliberately obstruct cancellation, in violation of the FTC Act and ROSCA, the federal law on auto-renewals. The complaint alleges Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would have made cancelling simpler, because easier cancelling would cut into profit.
Signing up: one click.
Leaving: an odyssey.
By design.
What it cost them
$2,500,000,000In September 2025, days into trial, Amazon settled for $2.5 billion: a record $1 billion civil penalty plus $1.5 billion in refunds to affected customers, up to $51 each, across tens of millions of people. Amazon admitted no wrongdoing.
That is, apparently, the going rate for turning the exit into an epic. And it is a rounding error next to a decade of subscriptions people meant to cancel and couldn't be bothered to fight.
Why this is the whole point
Read the Iliad Flow closely and the entire bet is laid bare. They built the friction knowing that most people, alone and tired and halfway through, would just give up. One person versus the Iliad Flow is a rounding error. That asymmetry, the thing that makes "more hassle than it's worth" a rational business strategy, is exactly what OurTerms exists to break.
A hundred thousand people walking the same week don't get worn down one at a time. They move together.
Read the receipts
- FTC · Takes action against Amazon (June 2023)
The lawsuit: the dark-pattern and ROSCA allegations, in the FTC's own words. - FTC · $2.5 billion settlement (September 2025)
The penalty and refund figures, and who was named. - Fast Company · Inside Amazon's "Iliad Flow"
The Iliad naming and the "four-page, six-click, fifteen-option" cancellation. - Ballard Spahr · Court lets the suit proceed (May 2024)
A judge's denial of Amazon's motion to dismiss, and a clean recap of the flow. - PBS / AP · Amazon to pay $2.5 billion
Neutral wire coverage of the settlement, refunds, and "no admission of wrongdoing."
The facts here come from the FTC's public complaint and settlement and from mainstream reporting, all linked above. Amazon settled without admitting wrongdoing. This page is our commentary on the public record. It is not legal advice.