Articles Tagged: Consumer Protection

 

FTC Settlement Signals Ongoing Pressure on Auto Dealers Over Fee Disclosures

The Federal Trade Commission has announced a settlement with an auto dealership group over alleged price-transparency issues, underscoring that dealer advertising, pricing disclosures, and add-on fee practices remain a live enforcement priority. Even without a headline-grabbing court opinion attached, the matter is important: it shows the agency continuing to police how vehicle prices and fees are presented to consumers, particularly where advertised prices may not clearly reflect the actual amount a buyer is expected to pay.

For auto retailers and their counsel, the takeaway is straightforward.

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FTC Auto Dealer Settlement Signals Continued Push on Price Transparency

The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with an auto dealership group that it framed as a win for price transparency, underscoring how aggressively the agency continues to police vehicle advertising and sales practices. Even without a fully detailed complaint publicly highlighted in the initial announcement, the action is notable as a same-day federal consumer-protection development with immediate relevance for dealerships, their counsel, and compliance teams.

At a high level, the settlement appears aimed at one of the FTC’s core concerns in the auto-retail space: whether advertised or quoted prices accurately reflect what consumers will actually pay.

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FTC Signals Hospital Price-Transparency Crackdown With Warning Letters to Major Health Systems

The Federal Trade Commission has issued warning letters to 24 of the nation’s largest healthcare services companies, putting major hospital and health-system operators on notice that patient pricing practices remain a live consumer-protection priority. Although the agency has not filed an enforcement action, the letters are legally significant: they serve as a public signal that the FTC is scrutinizing whether providers’ pricing disclosures, estimates, and patient-facing cost information could mislead consumers.

The message from FTC leadership is straightforward.

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FTC, Utah, and Nevada Target Lens.com in Deceptive Pricing Suit

The Federal Trade Commission, joined by the attorneys general of Utah and Nevada, has filed a new consumer-protection action against Lens.com, alleging the online contact-lens seller misrepresented prices in search advertisements and on its website over an extended period. According to regulators, the company used pricing tactics that made products appear cheaper than they actually were, a theory that puts digital advertising, checkout design, and price disclosures squarely at issue.

The case is notable not only because of the parties involved, but because it reflects continued FTC focus on “drip pricing” and other online marketing practices that can distort a consumer’s understanding of total cost.

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Florida Targets Pfizer and Albert Bourla in New COVID-19 Vaccine Consumer-Fraud Suit

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a state-court action against Pfizer and its CEO, Albert Bourla, alleging the company misled consumers about the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The suit adds a high-profile state enforcement action to the already complex body of litigation stemming from pandemic-era vaccine marketing, and it could become a closely watched test of how far state consumer-protection laws can reach in disputes over pharmaceutical communications.

At its core, the case appears to frame vaccine-related statements not simply as scientific or regulatory matters, but as actionable representations to consumers.

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New Mexico Jury Finds Meta Willfully Lied 26 Times in State Privacy Case

A New Mexico jury has delivered a striking win for state tech enforcement, finding that Meta willfully lied on 26 separate occasions in a case centered on data privacy, hate speech, misinformation, and the company’s post-Cambridge Analytica investigation of third-party app developers. The verdict stands out not just for its breadth, but for the jury’s apparent willingness to treat alleged misstatements across multiple content and privacy issues as part of a larger pattern of deceptive conduct.

For legal observers, the significance goes beyond the headlines.

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FTC Targets Humboldt Merchant Services in Gatekeeper Liability Push

The Federal Trade Commission has sued Humboldt Merchant Services, alleging the payment processor knowingly enabled scam operators and shell merchants to access the payments system for unauthorized billing and deceptive consumer charges. The agency’s theory is notable: rather than focusing only on the merchants that allegedly carried out the scams, the FTC is aiming at the infrastructure provider it says made those schemes possible.

According to the FTC, Humboldt processed payments for entities tied to sham businesses and billing operations that allegedly lacked legitimate merchant activity.

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Vitamin Supplement Marketing Suit Targets Vitauthority in Nevada

A new proposed consumer class action in the District of Nevada puts Vitauthority LLC’s supplement marketing under scrutiny. In Mathieson v. Vitauthority LLC, No. 2:26-cv-02828, the plaintiff challenges how the company allegedly marketed and sold certain products, teeing up the kind of labeling and advertising dispute that continues to drive class action filings in the health-and-wellness space.

Although the complaint details will matter, the putative class appears to center on consumers who purchased Vitauthority products and allegedly paid a premium based on the company’s representations.

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FTC Pulls Back Health Breach Notification Policy for Apps and Connected Devices

The Federal Trade Commission has rescinded a Biden-era policy statement that had expanded expectations around breach notifications for certain health apps and connected-device providers. The move is part of a broader agency push toward regulatory streamlining, but it also sends a clear signal to the digital-health market: the FTC may be narrowing how aggressively it interprets and enforces health-data breach obligations outside traditional healthcare settings.

At issue is the FTC’s approach to the Health Breach Notification Rule, which applies to certain vendors of personal health records and related entities not covered by HIPAA.

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FTC, Connecticut Land $4 Million Deceptive-Fee Settlement With Manchester City Nissan

The Federal Trade Commission and the State of Connecticut have announced a $4 million settlement with Manchester City Nissan over alleged deceptive-fee practices, marking another notable enforcement action aimed at dealer pricing transparency. The matter is particularly significant because it underscores continued coordination between federal and state regulators in policing so-called “junk fees” and other allegedly misleading charges in consumer transactions.

According to the FTC, the case focused on allegations that the dealership used deceptive fees in connection with vehicle sales.

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DEA Targets Kratom Derivatives in Major Controlled-Substance Shift

Federal regulators have taken a consequential step in the fast-evolving kratom market by moving to schedule three highly potent kratom-related derivatives that authorities say act like opioids. The action marks a notable escalation beyond longstanding debates over kratom itself, focusing instead on newer, concentrated compounds that have become increasingly common in smoke shops, vape stores, and convenience outlets.

For the industry, the immediate significance is practical as much as political: once a substance is scheduled, the legal landscape changes quickly.

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Meta’s $17.1 Billion Multistate Youth-Safety Settlement Raises the Stakes for Social Platforms

Meta Platforms has reportedly agreed to a sweeping $17.1 billion settlement with 29 states to resolve allegations tied to harms suffered by children and teens on Facebook and Instagram. Beyond the headline number, the deal is notable for pairing monetary relief with operational reforms aimed at how the platforms design, market, and manage products used by minors.

That combination makes the resolution especially significant.

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23andMe’s $64.75M Breach Fallout Deepens With Multistate AG Deal

23andMe’s data-breach exposure grew again this week, as a coalition of more than 40 state attorneys general announced they will share in an additional $18 million resolution over alleged unreasonable security practices. The state deal follows a bankruptcy court’s approval of a separate $46.75 million settlement with private claimants, bringing the combined fallout to $64.75 million and underscoring how cyber incidents can trigger overlapping liability across private litigation, regulatory enforcement, and insolvency proceedings.

The underlying civil litigation has been centralized in the Northern District of California as IN RE: 23ANDME, Inc., Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, a multidistrict proceeding that has become a key docket for watching how courts handle privacy claims tied to alleged security failures involving highly sensitive consumer data.

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False Advertising Class Action Targets Pharmavite Over Supplement Marketing

A newly filed putative class action in the Northern District of California takes aim at supplement maker Pharmavite LLC, placing the company’s marketing and labeling practices under the microscope. In Spencer et al v. Pharmavite LLC, filed May 29, 2026, the named plaintiffs appear to be pursuing claims on behalf of consumers who purchased Pharmavite products allegedly marketed in a misleading manner.

While the complaint will provide the precise contours of the proposed class, cases like this typically define the class as purchasers of the challenged products during a specified limitations period, often on a statewide or nationwide basis depending on the claims asserted.

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FTC’s $35 Million Shutterstock Settlement Puts Subscription Practices Back in the Crosshairs

Shutterstock has agreed to pay $35 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that it used deceptive subscription and cancellation practices, adding to a growing line of enforcement actions targeting so-called “negative option” marketing. According to the FTC, Shutterstock obscured important terms tied to annual subscription and content-pack plans and made it harder for customers to cancel than to sign up.

While the dollar amount is notable, the broader significance lies in what the case signals about the FTC’s enforcement priorities.

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