Penalty Amount
$25,000,000
The FTC and DOJ charged Amazon with violating COPPA by indefinitely retaining children's Alexa voice recordings and failing to honor parents' deletion requests. Under a proposed consent decree, Amazon must pay $25 million, delete children's data, and implement privacy safeguards.
Amazon is required to pay a $25 million civil penalty, delete inactive child accounts and voice recordings, prohibit using deleted data for algorithm training, notify users about the action and its practices, and implement a privacy program for geolocation data.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor and customer agreements, particularly those involving voice assistant services, IoT devices, or any child-directed products/services. Focus on clauses governing data retention, deletion processes, parental consent mechanisms, and data use for algorithm training. Specific attention is needed for provisions that allow indefinite storage of children's voice/geolocation data, restrict parental deletion rights, or permit internal data reuse. Contracts may require amendments to mandate automatic deletion after a short period, implement verifiable parental consent workflows, prohibit using children's data for model training, and establish clear audit rights for compliance with COPPA's data minimization and deletion requirements.
Entity
Amazon.com, Inc.
Also known as: Amazon
Industry
TechnologyOfficial Press Release
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/05/ftc-doj-charge-amazon-violating-childrens-privacy-law-keeping-kids-alexa-voice-recordings-forever
Amazon Complaint (Dkt.1)
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Amazon-Complaint-%28Dkt.1%29.pdf
Amazon Proposed Stipulated Order (Dkt. 2 1)
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Amazon-Proposed-Stipulated-Order-%28Dkt.-2-1%29.pdf
Federal Trade Commission Enforcement Page
https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement
"Amazon"
"pay a $25 million civil penalty"
"Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule (COPPA Rule)"
"kept children’s recordings indefinitely"
$1.0B
The FTC secured a $2.5 billion settlement with Amazon, including a $1 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in consumer refunds, for enrolling millions of consumers in Prime subscriptions without proper consent and designing a deliberately difficult cancellation process. The order requires Amazon to implement clear enrollment disclosures, an easy cancellation method, and cease the unlawful practices.
$750K
The FTC finalized an order against Vanilla Chip LLC (doing business as TruHeight) and its principals for deceptively advertising height-enhancing supplements for children and teens without scientific evidence. The company also used fake reviews and incentivized 5-star ratings. The order requires a $750,000 payment and prohibits false health claims and deceptive review practices.
$2.3M
The FTC alleged that RentGrow, a tenant screening company, violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by failing to use reasonable procedures to ensure the accuracy of its reports, including by reporting duplicate records and failing to disclose data sources. RentGrow agreed to pay a $2.25 million penalty and is prohibited from further FCRA violations and from misrepresenting dispute outcomes.
The FTC and New York Attorney General took action against Handy Technologies for deceptive earnings claims and failure to disclose fees and fines that led to millions of dollars being withheld from workers' wages. The FTC is sending over $2.7 million in refunds to 62,893 affected consumers.
$35.0M
The FTC alleged that Hopper, a travel booking app, charged consumers hidden and pre-selected fees (Tip and VIP Support) without their consent, misrepresented the benefits of VIP Support and Price Freeze services, and failed to clearly disclose total prices. Hopper agreed to pay $35 million for consumer redress and is prohibited from misrepresenting fees under a proposed order.
$1.5M
The FTC finalized a settlement with Publishing.com LLC and its principals for misleading consumers about potential earnings from self-publishing products. The company will pay $1.5 million and is prohibited from making unsubstantiated earnings claims, failing to disclose refund terms, and misrepresenting endorsements and reviews.