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The FTC’s settlement with Cleo AI gives some indication as to what we might see from the agency in the coming months. The FTC alleged, among other things, that Cleo AI’s actions violated Section 5 of the FTC Act. In particular, as reported in our sister blog, Cleo AI required people to enroll in a paid subscription plan, even though they marketed their services as free. It also made it difficult for people to cancel their subscription and made it hard to stop recurring charges. The company also failed to disclose material terms.Continue Reading Lessons from the FTC: The Cleo AI Settlement

The Federal Trade Commission recently requested public comment from users of tech platforms. In particular, the impact the platforms may have on user speech. Input is sought -by May 21- on the extent to which tech firms are engaging in potentially suppressing free speech.Continue Reading FTC Requests Input from Tech Platform Users About Speech

In the waning days of the Biden administration, the FTC published an update to its COPPA Privacy Rule. The status of this update, however, is unclear. The revisions to the rule were posted on the FTC website prior to the Trump administration, but had not yet been published in the Federal Register.Continue Reading FTC COPPA Rule Updates: On Hold?

The Federal Trade Commission recently settled complaints against two data brokers over their handling of consumers’ sensitive location information. The agency alleged that such practices constitute unfair practices. Under the settlement, both Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla, agreed to stop using and selling sensitive consumer location data.Continue Reading FTC Keeps Sights on Data Brokers that Sell Sensitive Location Sites

UPDATED: The FTC announced May 9, 2025 that it will defer enforcement of the rule until July 14, 2025.

The FTC updated its Negative Option Rule last month and gave it a new name to emphasize the expanded scope of programs to which it applies. It will now be the “Rule Concerning Recurring Subscriptions and Other Negative Option Programs.” The updated rule, as the FTC outlines, will now be applicable to nearly all forms of negative option marketing.Continue Reading Click! FTC Updates Its Negative Option Rule

Regulations impacting children’s use of social media continues to be a space in motion the past few months. There have been developments at both the state level, as well as with the FTC. And there is no sign of slowing down. In this article we give a roundup of some recent developments worth keeping in mind.Continue Reading #StatusUpdate on Social Media, Apps, and Children’s Privacy

The FTC’s staff report summarizes how it views the operations of social media and video streaming companies. Of particular interest is the insight it gives into potential enforcement focus in the coming months, and into 2025. Of particular concern for the FTC in the report, issued last month, were the following:Continue Reading FTC Social Media Staff Report Suggests Enforcement Direction and Expectations

In a recent blog post, the FTC again cautioned entities that hashing data does not make that data anonymous. Hashing is a process that takes a particular input, such as a phone number or email address, and uses a mathematical formula to create a different output. However, hashing does not make the output “anonymized” from the FTC’s perspective. This is because the hashing can be undone and reveal information that was initially obscured.Continue Reading #Hashtag Hashing: Still Not as Helpful as You Think!

In its ongoing concern with “dark patterns,” the FTC recently announced results of two reviews of sites and apps purportedly engaging in the practice. As a reminder, the FTC views as “dark patterns” practices or web designs that “get consumers to part with their money or data” using deceptive or manipulative means. Both of the recent reports were completed by global consortiums of regulators of which the FTC is a member.Continue Reading Websites Beware!: FTC Joins Other Regulators in Scrutinizing Alleged Dark Patterns

Much of the focus on US privacy has been US state laws, and the potential of a federal privacy law. This focus can lead one to forget, however, that US privacy and data security law follows a patchwork approach both at a state level and a federal level. “Comprehensive” privacy laws are thus only one piece of the puzzle. There are federal and state privacy and security laws that apply based on a company’s (1) industry (financial services, health care, telecommunications, gaming, etc.), (2) activity (making calls, sending emails, collecting information at point of purchase, etc.), and (3) the type of individual from whom information is being collected (children, students, employees, etc.). There have been developments this year in each of these areas.Continue Reading Mid-Year Recap: Think Beyond US State Laws!

The FTC recently announced that it had finalized the changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR). This is roughly one year later from when the proposed changes were first released and three years later from the Agency’s initial “position statement” on the rule sparking controversy. The final changes clarify the scope of the rule to health apps and expands what must be told to consumers when notifying them of a breach. The updated rule goes into effect June 25, 2024.Continue Reading FTC Finalizes Breach Notification Rule Amendments Directed at Digital Health