Marketer that claimed it could tap devices for ad targeting will pay $880K settlement
Summary
The marketing company Cox Media Group (CMG) claimed it could listen to consumers’ devices to target ads, but this was false. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made CMG and two other firms pay nearly $930,000 to settle charges that they misled customers about this service.Key Facts
- CMG promoted a service called Active Listening that claimed to use voice data from devices like smartphones to target ads.
- CMG removed the promotional webpage after the false claims were exposed.
- The FTC says the service did not listen to conversations or use voice data at all.
- Instead, the service sold email lists from other data companies at a high price.
- CMG agreed to pay $880,000 in a settlement to affected customers.
- Two other marketing firms, 1010 Digital Works LLC and MindSift LLC, will each pay $25,000 settlements.
- The companies falsely claimed customers had agreed to be targeted through app terms of service.
- The FTC stated that if the service had worked as claimed, it would have violated consumer privacy laws anyway.
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