Amazon Fire TV Accused of Making Devices Obsolete

A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that Amazon has intentionally degraded the performance of older Amazon Fire TV Stick devices. The suit claims that the tech giant's practices push users toward obsolescence, resulting in sluggish menus, long loading times, and reduced streaming speeds that fail to support modern applications.

Filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the complaint was brought by Bill Merewhuader, who reportedly purchased two second-generation Fire TV Stick devices in 2018. He states that over time, his devices experienced performance issues and eventually became unusable. The lawsuit asserts that Amazon intentionally slowed devices before the expiration of their useful life to spur hardware upgrades.

Popular streaming devices have been available for years, with competitors like Apple TV launching in 2007 and Google's Chromecast in 2013. Amazon released its first Fire TV devices in 2014. As these devices age, it is common for them to lose functionality due to the inability to run newer apps or support updated features. The current lawsuit hinges partly on the allegation that Amazon failed to inform consumers about the potential loss of functionality and that early devices did not perform as advertised.

The proposed class action is open to US residents who owned a first-generation Fire TV Stick as of January 1, 2023, or a second-generation model as of April 1, 2023. Amazon has not yet issued a response to the allegations.