What you need to know
- A lawsuit was recently filed alleging that Amazon is engaging in “software shutdowns” that cause the device to lose basic functionality if support ends.
- The plaintiff behind the lawsuit said they were forced to buy an all-new Fire TV Stick in 2024 after the first device in 2018, and said Amazon can “shorten” the life of a device whenever it wants.
- No further comments have yet been made on this claim.
A class action lawsuit against Amazon’s older Fire TV Sticks and their performance was reportedly accepted in April.
emphasized by Top Class ActionThe lawsuit alleges that Amazon is engaging in a “software lockout,” meaning that when software support is cut, the first and second-generation Fire TV Stick products will (via) CNET). In addition, the lawsuit states that Amazon has the right to “limit or discontinue” features after purchase. It claims that it may reduce the overall functionality of the Fire TV Stick.
The force behind this lawsuit is plaintiff Bill Merewhuader. The plaintiff alleges that not only did Amazon “limit” its product’s performance, but it failed to mention that its product’s functionality could be “purged” before its “useful life” ended. As a result, Merewhuader reports that their device slowed down drastically and eventually “became unusable”. After purchasing a Fire TV Stick 2nd Generation in 2018, Merewhuader says they were forced to buy another iteration in 2024 after the previous one “became useless.”
Article continues below
Android Central’s Take
I’m interested to see where this goes. There’s a family joke that when a device you’ve had for a long time starts working, the company that made it wants you to upgrade. There are a lot of moving parts in something like this. There are allegations, and then there’s what actually happened. If Amazon is found guilty of this, does that make us look at every device differently?
The lawsuit now reportedly seeks to compel Amazon to provide compensation to all consumers affected by the sudden downgrade on the first and second generation Fire TV Stick models. As CNET points out, older ones (such as first-generation models) degrade/age over time, causing them to slow down or have poor functionality. It’s currently unclear how this lawsuit will shake out between the plaintiff and Amazon.
Android Central has reached out to Amazon about this claim and will update this article if we hear back.
Where to go from here?
It’s interesting to see where this goes, as the plaintiff says the devices themselves didn’t fall apart, but rather something under the hood caused them to falter sooner than expected.
While waiting to see what happens with that lawsuit, earlier this year, Amazon fired 16 thousand workers in another tiring wave. This comes just months after the company announced it would lay off 14,000 people in October 2025. Shortly afterward, Amazon’s Beth Galetti said the layoffs “will not become a regular occurrence.” Despite Galetti’s words, Amazon has a history of major layoffs, with 10,000 job losses in 2022 and 18,000 job cuts in 2018.
Also, late last year, Amazon launched prevention of pirated programs On Fire TV, even users are sideloaded. He said he intends to “protect both media creators and users from malware and fake software.” Such restrictions had already begun to be applied in France and Germany; but has since expanded globally.
