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
A coalition of 42 attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against Meta, alleging that the company designed addictive features that harm youth mental health and violated COPPA by collecting children's data without parental consent. The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, monetary penalties, and restitution.
New Jersey, leading a coalition of 41 other attorneys general, sued Meta for knowingly designing addictive Instagram and Facebook features targeting children and teens while falsely claiming the platforms were safe. The lawsuit alleges Meta collected personal data from users under 13 without parental consent, violating the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and state consumer protection laws like the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong expanded the complaint against Stone Academy, alleging its owners siphoned millions for personal luxury while students were denied promised education and clinical training. Revenues surged during the pandemic, but exam pass rates fell and students lacked textbooks and qualified teachers. The AG seeks civil penalties, restitution, and a receiver to protect assets for student relief.
The FTC settled with background report providers TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate, charging they deceived consumers about the accuracy of their reports (often mischaracterizing traffic tickets as criminal records) and violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by operating as consumer reporting agencies without following its requirements, including ensuring accuracy and limiting permissible purposes. The companies will pay a $5.8 million penalty and implement a comprehensive FCRA compliance monitoring program.
$5.8M
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong sued Stone Academy, its owner Joseph Bierbaum, and Paier College of Art for violating the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act by deceiving students about the nursing program's quality, clinical hours, and faculty qualifications while diverting funds to other businesses. The lawsuit seeks millions in civil penalties, restitution for students, disgorgement of profits, appointment of a receiver, and attachment of assets including Bierbaum's mansion.
BetterHelp agreed to pay $7.8 million to settle FTC allegations that it used and shared consumers' health data for advertising without consent. The online therapy provider is banned from such practices and must provide refunds to approximately 800,000 affected consumers.
$7.8M
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
EyeMed Vision Care suffered a data breach in June 2020 due to poor security practices, including shared passwords, exposing personal and medical information of approximately 2.1 million individuals. The multistate settlement imposes a $2.5 million penalty and requires EyeMed to implement enhanced security measures and comply with privacy laws.
$2.5M
The FTC proposed a consent order against BetterHelp for sharing consumers' sensitive mental health data with third parties like Facebook for targeted advertising without proper consent. BetterHelp must pay $7.8 million in refunds and is banned from such data sharing, with requirements for consent and privacy programs.
$7.8M
The FTC settled with GoodRx for sharing consumers' sensitive prescription and health information with Facebook, Google, and other third parties for advertising without consent, and for failing to report these unauthorized disclosures as required by the Health Breach Notification Rule. GoodRx will pay a $1.5 million civil penalty and is permanently barred from sharing user health data for advertising.
$1.5M
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement with Sephora, Inc. for $1.2 million over violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act. Sephora failed to disclose that it sold consumer personal information and did not process opt-out requests via Global Privacy Control. The settlement requires Sephora to pay penalties and implement compliance measures including policy changes and reporting.
$1.2M
Wawa Inc. agreed to pay $8 million to resolve a multistate investigation into a data breach that compromised approximately 34 million payment cards between April 2019 and December 2019. The breach involved malware that harvested card data from point-of-sale terminals. New Jersey will receive $2.5 million, and Wawa must implement enhanced cybersecurity measures including a comprehensive security program and third-party audits.
$8.0M
Connecticut Attorney General and Consumer Counsel announced a $3 million settlement with electric supplier Public Power for failing to publish required 'next cycle rate' information, which denied consumers the opportunity to switch suppliers to avoid rate increases. As part of the settlement, Public Power and its sister companies must permanently exit the Connecticut market, and the funds will be used to pay down unpaid electric bills for hardship customers.
$3.0M
Connecticut, co-leading a multistate investigation, secured a $1.25 million settlement with Carnival Cruise Line over a 2019 data breach affecting approximately 180,000 individuals nationwide. The breach exposed sensitive data including passport numbers, driver's licenses, payment card information, and health data, with a 10-month delay in notification. Carnival agreed to implement enhanced email security measures, a breach response plan, and an independent security assessment.
$1.3M
New Jersey, as part of a multistate coalition, settled with Carnival Cruise Line over a 2019 data breach that compromised personal information of approximately 180,000 employees and customers nationwide. The breach resulted from deficiencies in Carnival's data security program and delayed breach notification. Carnival will pay $1.25 million and implement enhanced email security and breach response measures.
$1.3M
Connecticut Attorney General filed a $5 million stipulation judgment against Safe Home Security for repeated non-compliance with court-ordered consumer protection measures, including blocking contract terminations and misrepresenting terms. The judgment requires immediate payment of $1 million and suspends $4 million pending compliance, with an independent monitor for five years.
$5.0M
The Connecticut Attorney General announced an enforcement action against Associated Community Services for operating a massive telefunding scheme that bombarded 67 million consumers with 1.3 billion deceptive fundraising calls, fraudulently collecting over $110 million. The action resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and a permanent prohibition from fundraising, forcing the sale of assets purchased with illegal proceeds.
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
New Jersey participated in a multi-state settlement resolving an investigation into a 2017 data breach at Sabre Hospitality Solutions. Intruders accessed the company's hotel booking system from August 2016 to March 2017, compromising data from over 1.3 million consumer credit cards, including CVV numbers and expiration dates. Sabre failed to promptly notify affected consumers. The $2.4 million settlement requires Sabre to implement enhanced data security measures, develop a breach notification plan, clarify contractual responsibilities with client hotels, and undergo third-party security assessments.
$2.4M
New Jersey joined a multistate $2 million settlement with online retailer CafePress over a 2019 data breach that exposed personal information of approximately 22 million consumers nationwide, including over 540,000 in New Jersey. The settlement requires CafePress to implement a comprehensive cybersecurity program, incident response plan, and third-party assessments for five years, with payment suspended pending compliance.
$2.0M
AppFolio, Inc., a tenant background report provider, settled with the FTC for $4.25 million over allegations it violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to implement reasonable procedures to ensure the accuracy of its screening reports and by including eviction and non-conviction criminal records older than seven years. The settlement prohibits including old records and requires maintaining accuracy procedures.
$4.3M
New Jersey Attorney General settled with Community Health Systems, Inc. over a 2014 data breach affecting 6.1 million patients, including over 45,000 New Jersey residents. CHS will pay $5 million to 28 states and implement enhanced data security measures to protect personal and health information.
$5.0M
Anthem, Inc. settled with California for $8.69 million over a 2014 data breach that exposed personal information of 78 million consumers, including 13.5 million Californians. The breach resulted from security deficiencies, and the settlement includes injunctive relief to improve information security practices. This action was part of a parallel multistate settlement.
$8.7M
Premera Blue Cross suffered a data breach in 2014 that exposed personal and medical information of 10.5 million consumers. As part of a multistate settlement, Premera agreed to pay $10 million in civil penalties and implement security improvements and a compliance program. California will receive over $1 million from the settlement.
$10.0M
Neiman Marcus settled a multi-state investigation over a 2013 data breach that compromised payment card data of approximately 370,000 consumers nationwide, including 17,000 in New Jersey. The company agreed to pay $1.5 million and implement enhanced cybersecurity measures such as PCI compliance, network monitoring, and regular security assessments.
$1.5M
Virtua Medical Group agreed to pay $417,816 and implement a corrective action plan to settle allegations that it failed to properly secure electronic protected health information (ePHI). A vendor's server misconfiguration publicly exposed the medical records of over 1,650 patients via Google searches. The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs found VMG violated HIPAA's Security and Privacy Rules by not adequately vetting the vendor's security and failing to conduct proper risk analysis.
$418K
The New Jersey Attorney General announced an investigation into how the personal information of millions of Facebook users was harvested and obtained by Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based data analytics company. The AG expressed concern that Facebook may have allowed the harvesting and monetization of user data despite promises to keep it secure.
Cottage Health System experienced two data breaches exposing medical information of over 50,000 patients due to inadequate security measures. The settlement requires a $2 million penalty and upgrades to security practices, including designating a Chief Privacy Officer.
$2.0M
New Jersey joined 31 other states and the FTC in a $3.5 million settlement with Lenovo for pre-installing VisualDiscovery ad software on laptops that created a 'man-in-the-middle' security vulnerability, intercepting users' encrypted data without adequate disclosure or opt-out mechanisms. The settlement requires Lenovo to improve transparency, obtain affirmative consent, provide effective opt-out tools, and implement a long-term security compliance program with independent audits.
$3.5M
Lenovo preinstalled 'Visual Discovery' software on its computers that intercepted browsing data and broke encrypted connections without user consent, compromising security and privacy. The multi-state settlement imposes a $3.5 million penalty and requires Lenovo to implement disclosure, consent, opt-out, and security compliance measures.
$3.5M
All data sourced from official government enforcement pages.