Every story tagged FTC Enforcement, curated for CIOs and IT leaders — ranked by source credibility, engagement, and freshness.
3 stories · open in the command center
The FTC settled a case against Cox Media Group and two marketing firms for falsely claiming their 'Active Listening' service could target ads based on audio recordings from smart devices—a capability that never actually existed. The companies deceived business customers by marketing sophisticated voice-based targeting while actually providing only standard email list purchases at inflated markups, resulting in nearly $1 million in combined penalties. This case underscores the regulatory risks of making unsubstantiated claims about data collection and consumer consent capabilities, signaling that the FTC will aggressively pursue deceptive practices around emerging surveillance-adjacent marketing technologies.
Shutterstock's $35M FTC settlement for deceptive subscription practices and difficult cancellation processes highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of subscription-based business models and consumer protection compliance. This enforcement action signals that IT and business leaders must prioritize transparent billing practices, streamlined cancellation workflows, and compliance documentation to mitigate regulatory risk and protect brand reputation. Organizations leveraging subscription models should conduct immediate audits of their customer acquisition, billing disclosure, and retention processes to ensure compliance with FTC standards.
The FTC has settled enforcement action against data broker Kochava and subsidiary CDS, banning them from selling Americans' location data—signaling increased regulatory scrutiny of data collection and privacy practices that IT organizations must address in their data governance strategies. This enforcement action demonstrates the FTC's commitment to restricting secondary markets for sensitive personal data and creates potential compliance obligations for any enterprise systems that source or utilize location data from third-party brokers. Technology leaders should expect heightened regulatory pressure on data handling practices and may face increased audit requirements around data lineage, third-party vendor practices, and compliance with emerging privacy standards.