The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently issued a proposed order requiring BetterHelp, an online counseling service, to pay $7.8 million over misrepresentations to consumers and improper disclosures of consumers’ health information to advertisers, such as Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest.[1] This order and consent agreement comes a month after the FTC entered a settlement with GoodRx for similar privacy violations, which we examined in the following article here.Continue Reading BetterHelp… Themselves: FTC Fines Company for Improper Deceptive Advertising Practices
From Your “Clicks” To Targeted Ads: FTC Fines Company for Its “Deceptive” Use of Pixels
How does Facebook know you want sugar-free snacks? These personal ads may have targeted you based on your online searches or a refill of your diabetes medicine collected by the digital health company GoodRx. GoodRx has been sending this personal health information such as prescription information to ad platforms like Facebook and Google to use and monetize your data.
But the Federal Trade Commission did not approve of GoodRx’s actions and, last Wednesday, fined the digital health company for its “deceptive practices” in the disclosure of personal and health information to third-party advertising companies and platforms like Meta and Google for advertisement purposes.[1] At the core of the complaint, the FTC cited the inconsistencies between the statements made in GoodRx’s privacy policy and its actual business practices, specifically, the company’s use of online tracking tools such as web beacons and software development kits (generally referred to as pixels) for targeted and personalized ads.Continue Reading From Your “Clicks” To Targeted Ads: FTC Fines Company for Its “Deceptive” Use of Pixels
FTC Releases Annual Privacy and Data Security Update
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its annual Privacy and Data Security Update, which highlights the FTC’s activities during the past year. The FTC, the U.S. agency tasked with a unique dual mission to protect consumers and promote competition, detailed its record year for enforcement actions aimed at protecting consumer privacy and data security.
The FTC’s primary enforcement authority comes from Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in the marketplace. The FTC also has authority to enforce a variety of industry-specific laws, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Truth in Lending Act, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act. The FTC has used its authority to address a wide range of practices affecting consumers, including those that come with the development of new technologies and business models.
Continue Reading FTC Releases Annual Privacy and Data Security Update