FTC Fines 3 Companies That Claimed to Listen to People Through Their Phones or Smart Speakers and Sell Ads Based on What Was Said Over $900,00
The companies said the product used voice data, but regulators say it was a repackaged email list operation.
- On Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission ordered Cox Media Group, MindSift LLC, and 1010 Digital Works LLC to pay a combined $930,000 to settle charges they deceived small businesses by selling a fabricated artificial intelligence advertising service.
- Starting in 2023, Cox publicly promoted the Active Listening service, asserting it used proprietary algorithms to detect smart device conversations and deliver geographically targeted ads to consumers within specific regions.
- The FTC confirmed the service never collected voice data or used AI monitoring; instead, companies purchased consumer email lists from data brokers and resold them at significant markups, despite sales teams claiming voice-related behaviors comprised 40%-50% of behavior volumes.
- All three companies falsely told potential customers that consumers had opted into the service through app terms of service; the FTC determined clicking mandatory agreements does not constitute meaningful consent for voice data collection inside homes.
- The settlement bans all three companies from future deceptive claims about advertising capabilities and voice-data practices, reflecting the FTC's intensified enforcement against deceptive AI marketing following Operation AI Comply launched in September 2024.
11 Articles
11 Articles
FTC Fines Cox Media Group $800K Over Alleged 'Active Listening' AI Ad Service That Used Phones Without Consent
For years, millions of people have sworn that their phones secretly listen to their conversations and serve targeted ads. Cox Media Group took that widely held fear and turned it into a product, marketing an 'Active Listening' service that claimed to use artificial intelligence to detect conversations from smart devices. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now confirmed that the service never collected a single piece of voice data. How a Cons…
Cox Media fined after bragging it spied on users through their phones
An exceptionally weird controversy has come back to haunt Cox Media and a pair of marketing firms, which claimed they were secretly listening to users via phones and smart devices - despite little evidence they actually could. On Thursday the Federal Trade Commission announced that Cox, MindSift, and 1010 Digital Works would pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations that they were in fact lying about spying on people to target ads. As chroni…
FTC Fines 3 Companies That Claimed to Listen to People Through Their Phones or Smart Speakers and Sell Ads Based on What Was Said Over $900,00
Federal regulators say the company sold small businesses a product that never worked as described — and that the “consent” it claimed from consumers was no consent at all. The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Cox Media Group and two partner marketing firms to pay a combined $930,000 to settle charges that they deceived small […] The post FTC Fines 3 Companies That Claimed to Listen to People Through Their Phones or Smart Speakers and Sell Ad…
FTC Settles With Cox Media Group and Two Others Who Lied About Using Device Microphones to Collect Ad Targeting Data – Pixel Envy
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission: The Federal Trade Commission will require Cox Media Group (CMG) and two smaller marketing firms to pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations they deceived customers by falsely claiming to offer an AI-powered service that could target localized ads based on conversations captured from consumers’ smart devices and that consumers had opted into such targeting. Congratulations to Joseph Cox of 404 Media who br…
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