The controversial practice of Adobe imposing penalties on customers who cancel their subscriptions early stems from the company's reliance on this revenue model, according to the FTC. The American regulator states that the company acknowledges this fact.
In June, the FTC filed a lawsuit against Adobe, claiming that the company failed to adequately inform content creators about its billing policies regarding subscriptions and the penalties for cancellation. While the software developer may disclose these details on its website, it is allegedly not made clear during the subscription sign-up process.
The FTC asserts that Adobe executives are aware that the “inadequate … disclosure” of their annual payment plans “misleads consumers and harms them,” yet the company’s management “continues to engage in these illegal activities because better disclosure would hurt Adobe’s profits due to decreased subscription revenue.”
“As one Adobe executive acknowledged, the hidden ETF is ‘somewhat like heroin for Adobe,’ and ‘there is absolutely no way to cancel the ETF or discuss it more transparently [without] a significant blow to the business,’” the regulatory document states.
Adobe publicly denies the FTC's allegations. One company executive, speaking on condition of anonymity (due to the sensitive nature of public comments amid the litigation), suggested that the federal agency is merely gathering provocative material for its case to support an untenable lawsuit. He remarked that the person who made the heroin comparison is not part of the executive team.
And yes, we know that the image shows something else, but how could we resist taking that screenshot?
Source: The Register
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