With the proliferation of consumer personal data laws and cookie consent banners, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is ramping up its crusade against businesses in the name of consumer protection by wielding its very broad authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act (Section 5). Section 5 prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce” and has been a driving force of the FTC since its inception in 1914.
As you can imagine, Section 5, originally empowering the FTC to prevent unfair methods of competition, has changed significantly with the passage of time and evolving business practices. The advent of collecting consumer data for the purposes of cross-contextual behavioral advertising proved to be another watershed moment that adds an arrow to the FTC growing quiver.
The recent FTC cases against GoodRx and BetterHelp are canaries in the coal mine and that we should all listen to because dealerships across the country engage in similar behavior. We will briefly discuss these cases below. READ MORE.
For more information about these and other FTC enforcement actions, please visit their library at https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings.