In news that pleases all users of Photoshop, the U.S. government is suing Adobe for allegedly harming consumers by "registering them with their default, most lucrative subscription plans, without clearly disclosing the terms of the important plans."

Complaints from the Department of Justice (DoJ) indicate that Adobe "hides" the true cost of its subscription in the fine print, "behind optional text boxes and hyperlinks,"

Complaints further indicate that calls and live chat with Adobe Support are "dropped or blocked", often breaking federal law. It claims to have been "disconnected" and it aims for an executive suite. Maninder Sawhney, Vice President of Adobe, and David Wadhwani, President of the digital media business, said they "had the authority to oversee, control and control Adobe's conduct and practices, or refer to them."

Adobe signed a subscription agreement in 2012 for a software suite widely used by both the creative industry and individuals. The Adobe Creative cloud subscription gives you access to software such as Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere. 

"[the FTC] is taking action against Adobe and two executives for pushing people to subscriptions and making it unreasonably difficult to cancel," writes FTC Chair Linda Kahn. Adobe ambushed users with hefty "early termination fees" and threw obstacles as people tried to cancel.

"Adobe knew its policy made it very difficult and frustrating for users who want to cancel their subscription[...One person wrote: "Adobe literally won't let me cancel my subscription.Two senior executives were involved in overseeing, supervising, controlling, or participating in Adobe's illegal business practices, so they have been named in the complaint."

The complaint was filed by the DoJ in federal court in the Northern District of California following a referral from the Ftc. Among other alternative languages, Adobe claims to be demanding that its early termination fees and amounts (a whopping 50% of the remaining monthly payments when consumers cancel in their first year) be "filled" with booklets, or that "consumers hover over small icons to find disclosures."

Adobe says it is aware of consumer "confusion," but nevertheless adds that the company is forcing consumers to "navigate a multitude of pages to cancel" their annual paid monthly plans while obscuring [early termination fees]. Alternatively, they faced "resistance and delay from Adobe representatives" and users who thought they had subsequently canceled felt that "the company continued to charge them.""

These claims are certainly consistent with my personal experience. Previously, I had a copy of Photoshop that I was confused about, mostly to create bespoke header images for articles before Adobe moved to a subscription-based model. A few years later, I signed up for what I thought was a month use of Photoshop, needed to create an image, and ended up on the hook for hundreds of pounds. Just in my opinion, Adobe deserves everything that comes that way.

"Adobe trapped customers in subscriptions for years through hidden early termination fees and numerous cancellation hurdles," said Samuel Levine, director of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Consumer Protection Bureau. "Americans are fed up with companies that hide the ball while signing up for a subscription and put obstacles when they try to cancel it," he said."