compliance Archives

FTC Testifies Before Senate Commerce Subcommittee About Consumer Protection Efforts

2018-11-29

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued its annual report, providing insight into the agency’s enforcement priorities. The report touches upon fraud, substantiating claims, technological innovation, endorsement guidelines, dietary supplements, disease prevention claims, sponsored content, and privacy and data security. The FTC also recently testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, … Read more

Recent FTC CIDs Focusing Upon Financial Privacy

2018-11-14

An interesting trend has been developing with Federal Trade Commission Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs). Of late, the agency has been focusing on deceptive and unfair trade practices related to consumer privacy and/or data security, including the collection, acquisition, use, disclosure, security, storage, retention and disposition of consumer information by financial institutions and/or their affiliates in violation of … Read more

YouTube Continues to See Some Fallout from Advertiser Boycott

2017-07-20

YouTube is continuing to experience some (admittedly, fairly minor) problems related to the ‘boycott’ of their platform for advertising. Major brands, especially P&G, began avoiding YouTube because of privacy concerns and other issues related to being able to ensure their ads were being displayed only in the ways and places that they wanted. The Google … Read more

FTC Announces Changes to Civil Investigative Demands that Benefit Marketers

2017-07-202017-07-20

On July 17, 2017, Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen announced several internal process reforms in the Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection that are intended to streamline information requests and improve transparency in FTC investigations. “It is our duty to carry out our vital mission in the most effective and efficient way possible,” … Read more

FTC 2016 Annual Highlights

2017-04-02

On March 28, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission released its 2016 Annual Highlights. The Highlights demonstrate the agency’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers and promote competition over the past calendar year. “2016 was a historic year for the FTC. We obtained almost $12 billion in redress for consumers, and took action in more than a … Read more

Website Counter-Sues Federal Trade Commission Right Back

2017-03-292017-03-28

Anyone who doesn’t like the FTC, and there are quite a few of them in the online marketing community, will find this story more than a little interesting. DOTAuthority.com, has announced through their attorneys that they were filing a counterclaim against the FTC in connection to actions taken against the company, and press releases done … Read more

FTC Alleges “Risk-Free” Trials Came with Hidden Charges

2017-03-26

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against a group of online marketers, alleging that they deceived consumers with “free” and “risk-free” trials for access to various gadgets and online subscription services. According to the FTC, the defendants violated the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act by asking people for their … Read more

Latest Report Pegs Ad Fraud at $16.4 Billion Annually

2017-03-26

It seems like every time a new study or report is released, the total estimated amount of ad fraud hitting the industry is growing up. While there has been some action taken to try to prevent it over the past year, many people agree that it is simply not enough. When advertisers are losing approximately … Read more

P&G’s Digital Shitty Advertising Bombshell

2017-03-07

P&G is the largest advertiser in the world, sinking millions of dollars into virtually every ad medium available. Needless to say, when they talk about their intentions with any type of ads, the industry listens. When Chief Brand Officer Marc Prichard commented about digital advertising saying that they do not, “want to waste time and … Read more

FTC Releases 2016 Summary of Consumer Complaints

2017-03-06

Imposter scam complaints surpassed identity theft for the first time as the second most common category of consumer complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2016, according to the agency’s new Data Book. Debt collection complaints remained the top consumer complaint category. The rise in impostor scam reports is due to … Read more

Did Land Rover Fund Terrorism Through Buying Ads?

2017-02-152017-02-14

The auto company Jaguar Land Rover, is running into some problems with their digital advertising in the UK. The company, like most their size, is using programmatic ad purchasing to get their ads out in front of as wide a range of people as possible who may be interested in buying their vehicles. Reports are … Read more

Enforcement Policy Shift at FTC Likely to Benefit Online Marketers

2017-02-07

Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican on the Federal Trade Commission, has been appointed interim chair of the FTC by President Trump. Ohlhausen succeeds FTC Chair Edith Ramirez, who was sworn in as a commissioner in 2010 and is resigning effective February 10, 2017. Recently, amongst growing speculation, Ohlhausen provided some insight into the Commission’s consumer protection … Read more

Been There, Done That: Four Ways We’ve Learned To Keep Ads Off Unsavory Sites

2016-12-05

I’m sure you haven’t missed the headlines lately about brands like Kellogg’s and the San Diego Zoo pulling their ads from Breitbart News. For the most part, big-name advertisers promptly pulled their ads, since they don’t want consumers associating their brands with fake news, racism and hate. What the public probably – and unfortunately – … Read more

New York State Passes Legislation Increasing Telemarketing Transparency

2020-02-272016-12-05

According to reports, the number of Do-Not-Call complaints in New York State has been steadily increasing. New Yorkers filed more than 228,900 Do-Not-Call complaints in 2014 and more than 241,658 complaints in 2015. Approximately 200,000 Do-Not-Call complaints were lodged by New Yorkers in the first six months of 2016. As a result, on December 1, … Read more