class action lawsuit regarding the utilization of this tactic to promote its newest Fire TV Sticks, a series of streaming media devices that users connect directly to their televisions. Initiated in a Los Angeles Superior Court, the allegation asserts that the tech titan restricted essential software updates for its Fire TV Sticks, making them “almost unusable.” The two versions implicated in the lawsuit encompass the first- and second-generation devices, launched in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Coincidentally, the lawsuit was filed approximately two weeks prior to Amazon’s announcement of a new generation of Fire TV Sticks.
The allegation highlights a contentious tactic termed “software tethering,” where companies utilize updates as a means to manipulate or restrict device performance. In recent years, consumer advocacy organizations such as Consumer Reports and the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) have urged the Federal Trade Commission to curtail this practice. As Lucas Rockett Gutterman, an initiative director at the PIRG, remarked in a 2024 press release on the matter, “manufacturers are increasingly employing software to confine us to utilizing our technology in ways that conveniently maximize their profits. If we aim to prevent the tech industry from compelling us to replace products that are still functional, we must advocate for consumers’ rights to receive what they have paid for in this era of connected devices.”