I had this happen to me yesterday. I immediately deleted the account it created (I already had one under a different email address). I sent very negative feedback to IMDB about it, they emailed me back today with a pretty generic response.

To me, this crosses a major line. I don't feel I can trust any site Amazon owns going forward. Any accounts I have currently with this (including my preexisting IMDB account) I now plan to delete, and avoid like the plague so I avoid having more accounts created without my consent. I think people need to react very negatively to this, as it sets a horrible precedent. Imagine every site that currently pops up with "Sign-in with Google" just taking it upon themselves to proactively create an account for simply visiting the page.

I found this help article that explains they're doing it. This doesn't make it better, it just shows it isn't a mistake. Someone made this decision, it was supported internally, and implemented.

https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/general-information/imdb-...

Are they really sharing anything without your consent though? IMDB is part of Amazon.

Perhaps related to a recent change, where you now must be logged in to IMDB.com in order to view the User Reviews for movies.

Amazon has been an absolutely terrible custodian of IMDb. I am still nostalgic about user forums...

Are there any open alternatives to IMDB?