The Federal Trade Commission has approved a final consent order against The Bountiful Company for abusing a feature of Amazon.com to deceive consumers into thinking that its newly introduced supplements had more product ratings and reviews, higher average ratings, and “#1 Best Seller” and “Amazon’s Choice” badges. Details, including a link to the complaint, are […]
Category Archives: Federal Trade Commission
Gregory M. Dickinson of St. Thomas has written Privately Policing Dark Patterns, 57 Ga. L. Rev. (2023 Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: Lawmakers around the country are crafting new laws to target “dark patterns”—user interface designs that trick or coerce users into enabling cell phone location tracking, sharing browsing data, initiating automatic billing, or making […]
The Regulatory Review blog reports that “With 77 percent of online shoppers using reviews to inform their purchase decisions, customer reviews play a crucial role in shaping international commerce. Fake reviews, which include manufactured and deceptive reviews, constitute about 4 percent of all reviews online. This 4 percent translates to a cost to consumers of […]
As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, the operators of a telemarketing scam that called hundreds of thousands of consumers nationwide to pitch them expensive “extended automobile warranties” will face a lifetime ban from the extended automobile warranty industry and from all outbound telemarketing. The FTC’s press release is here.
Allison posted a couple days ago on the FTC’s proposed rule on “click to cancel” subscriptions and memberships. Relatedly, Michele Singletary at the Washington Post has this useful piece on the topic. Here’s a little excerpt that describes the practices targeted by the FTC proposal and why those practices can be bad: With a negative-option membership […]
The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a “click to cancel” provision requiring sellers to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up. The proposal would make several specific changes, including implementing a simple cancellation mechanism, new requirements before making additional offers, and new requirements regarding reminders and […]
The panel, to be conducted by the Bureaus of Consumer Protection and Competition, will be on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm (EDT). Panelists include Alpa Davis, Health Care Division (BC), Eric Elmore, Mergers 2 Division (BC), Quinn Martin, Financial Practices Division (BCP), Rosario Mendez, Consumer & Business Education Division (BCP), Terry Thomas, Mergers 3 Division (BC), and Ricardo Woolery, Office of […]
A new Federal Trade Commission report to Congress details the consumer issues that affect American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations, as well as the FTC’s enforcement, outreach and education work on these issues. The report summarizes the agency’s efforts to hear directly from tribal leaders, community members, advocates, and others about issues affecting their […]
Shady auto dealer practices take center stage in the Federal Trade Commission’s latest report on its 2022 enforcement activities related to fair lending. Each year, the FTC submits a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recounting actions it took tied to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, a law to combat discrimination in lending. Last […]
The Federal Trade Commission has taken its first enforcement action under its Health Breach Notification Rule, The action, filed against the telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings Inc., alleges that the company failed to notify consumers and others of its unauthorized disclosures of consumers’ personal health information to Facebook, Google, and other companies. […]