Adobe Sued by US Regulators Over Subscription Cancellations

  • Company ‘trapped customers’ in subscriptions, lawsuit alleges
  • Regulators has been reviewing Adobe’s pricing for two years

Adobe headquarters in San Jose, California.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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The US Federal Trade Commission sued Adobe Inc., alleging the software company violated consumer protection laws by making it too difficult for consumers to cancel their subscriptions.

Adobe pushed users toward annual subscriptions to its creative software such as Photoshop without “adequately disclosing” that canceling in the first year could cost hundreds of dollars, the FTC said Monday in a statementBloomberg Terminal. The San Jose, California-based company also designed the cancellation process to be difficult, requiring navigating many online pages or transfers between customer services representatives, the regulators said.