1,285 enforcement actions from 14 federal and state jurisdictions. Every event traced back to its official government source.
1,285
Total Actions
14
Jurisdictions
$35.3B+
Total Fines Tracked
The FTC issued a policy statement announcing it will not enforce COPPA against operators that collect age verification data under specific conditions. The policy aims to encourage the use of age verification technologies to protect children online. Operators must limit data use, ensure security, provide notice, and use accurate verification methods.
Consumer fraud case where the FTC sued JustAnswer LLC for deceiving consumers into enrolling in a costly recurring monthly subscription by falsely claiming low one-time fees. The company did not obtain affirmative consent or clearly disclose subscription terms, violating ROSCA and the FTC Act. The FTC seeks an injunction, consumer refunds, and civil penalties.
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.
$1.0B
The FTC issued 6(b) orders to seven technology companies to investigate the safety and privacy practices of their AI chatbots, particularly regarding impacts on children and teens. The inquiry focuses on compliance with children's privacy laws, data handling, and disclosures, requiring companies to provide information on these aspects.
The FTC settled allegations against Apitor Technology for violating COPPA by allowing a third party to collect geolocation data from children without parental consent. Apitor must pay a $500,000 suspended fine, delete improperly collected data, and implement measures to comply with COPPA, including obtaining parental consent and notifying parents.
$500K
The FTC settled with NGL for deceptively marketing its anonymous messaging app to children and teens, using fake messages to trick users into paid subscriptions without proper consent. The order banned marketing to users under 18 and required $4.5 million in refunds for unauthorized charges.
$4.5M
The FTC finalized an order against Avast for selling consumers' web browsing data for advertising after promising privacy protection. Avast must pay $16.5 million, is banned from selling such data, must delete collected data, obtain consent, notify consumers, and implement a privacy program.
$16.5M
The FTC has proposed amendments to the COPPA Rule to enhance children's privacy protections. Key changes include requiring separate parental consent for targeted advertising, prohibiting conditioning access on data collection, limiting push notifications, strengthening data security and retention requirements, and restricting commercial use in educational technology. The proposal shifts responsibility from parents to companies to safeguard children's data.
The FTC charged Ring LLC with allowing employees to access private customer videos without consent and failing to secure user accounts, leading to hackers controlling cameras. Under a proposed consent order, Ring must pay $5.8 million in refunds, delete unlawfully accessed data, and implement a privacy and security program.
$5.8M
The FTC settled with Ring for failing to secure consumer videos, allowing unauthorized access by employees and hackers. Ring agreed to provide $5.6 million in refunds to affected customers and implement security measures.
$5.6M
The FTC took action against CafePress for failing to secure consumer data and covering up a major data breach. The company stored sensitive information insecurely and delayed notifying customers. As part of the settlement, Residual Pumpkin must pay $500,000 in redress, and both companies must implement comprehensive security programs.
$500K
The FTC finalized an order banning Support King, LLC and its CEO from the surveillance business for selling stalkerware apps that secretly collected and shared users' personal data without consent. The order requires them to delete all illegally collected data and notify affected device owners.
The FTC banned Support King, LLC (SpyFone) and its CEO from the surveillance business for secretly harvesting and sharing users' data without consent, and ordered the deletion of all illegally collected data and notification to affected device owners. The company failed to secure the data, leading to a hack that exposed 2,200 consumers.
The FTC settled with Kuuhuub Inc., operator of the Recolor coloring book app, for violating COPPA by collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. The app's social media features allowed children to register and share data, and third-party ad networks collected persistent identifiers for targeted ads. The settlement requires deletion of children's data, refunds to underage subscribers, a $3 million penalty (suspended upon $100,000 payment), and user notifications about the violations.
$3.0M
The FTC settled with Vivint Smart Homes, Inc. for $20 million over allegations that the company misused consumer credit reports to secure financing for unqualified customers, harming consumers' credit. The FTC is now distributing approximately $500,000 in refunds to affected consumers.
$20.0M
Everalbum, Inc. settled FTC allegations that it deceived consumers about its use of facial recognition technology in its photo storage app and failed to delete photos when users deactivated their accounts. The settlement requires Everalbum to obtain express consent before using facial recognition, delete user photos and derived face embeddings, and delete developed models and algorithms. It also prohibits misrepresentations about data practices and requires consent for biometric data use if marketing software to consumers.
The FTC settled with Zoom for deceiving users about its encryption security and unfairly installing software that bypassed browser safeguards. Zoom must implement a comprehensive security program, undergo biennial audits, and is banned from making false security claims. No monetary penalty was imposed.
All data sourced from official government enforcement pages.