Adobe—FTC and DOJ sued Adobe and two executives for deceptive subscription practices and hidden cancellation fees
In June 2024, the FTC filed a federal lawsuit against Adobe and executives David Wadhwani and Maninder Sawhney, alleging the company pushed consumers toward annual-paid-monthly plans while burying early termination fees worth hundreds of dollars. The complaint also accused Adobe of making cancellation deliberately difficult through multiple pages, dropped calls, and resistance from customer service representatives.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Protection | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Corporate Transparency | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.745 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.66)
Evidence (2 signals)
Legal analysis confirmed FTC dark patterns complaint targets Adobe's subscription and cancellation practices
Duane Morris LLP published a detailed legal analysis of the FTC's dark patterns complaint against Adobe, confirming the allegations cover hidden early termination fees, deceptive enrollment flows, and obstructed cancellation processes.
FTC filed federal complaint against Adobe and two executives for hidden fees and obstructed cancellations
The FTC announced a federal lawsuit against Adobe Inc. and executives David Wadhwani and Maninder Sawhney, alleging they pushed consumers toward 'annual paid monthly' plans while burying early termination fees and making cancellation deliberately difficult through multiple pages and resistant customer service.