Adobe under fire from FTC over deceptive practices

FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is launching a case against Adobe due to alleged deceptive practices related to the company's subscription services. According to the FTC, Adobe violates the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act and the commission highlights a few key issues.

Firstly, Adobe describes its subscription plan as monthly but charges cancellation fees when a user wants to cancel it earlier than one year. Additionally, Adobe places numerous obstacles within the cancellation process, and often, users are led to believe they've cancelled the plan when, in reality, monthly payments still occur.

Adobe usually charges 50% of the remaining subscription payments as a cancellation fee. This could be part of the reason why Adobe's subscription services revenue ballooned from $7.7 billion in 2019 to $14.2 billion in 2023.

FTC points out two defendants from Adobe - the Vice President Maninder Sawhney and the President of Digital Media David Wadhwani.

Adobe's official response states that it would seek legal battle in court and denies FTC's allegations.

If found guilty by the Department of Justice, Adobe would be subject to monetary penalties and it would have to refund customers who were forced to pay a cancellation fee.

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