FTC proposes $5M penalty for NGL Labs, founders over COPPA violations
By 
Adrianne Appel2024-07-09T20:26:00
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ordered anonymous messaging app creator NGL Labs and its two founders to pay $5 million for unfairly marketing to children and falsely claiming artificial intelligence (AI) filtered out bullying messages and threats.
The FTC additionally ordered FTG to stop marketing to children under 18, the agency announced in a press release Tuesday.
Created in 2021 by Raj Vir and Joao Figueiredo, the “NGL: ask me anything” app was marketed as a “safe space for teens” and allowed users to receive anonymous messages, including candid and slanderous ones, from friends and contacts. The company engaged in aggressive, coercive marketing tactics toward children, the FTC alleged.
Related articles
-
PremiumFTC sounds alarm on business practices turning into ‘vast surveillance’
The Federal Trade Commission took aim at the business models of some of the world’s largest companies, publishing a years-long study that decried technologies that have created “vast surveillance” networks that expose people to “a host of harms” and violate children’s privacy laws.
-
News BriefFTC wants answers from Mastercard, JPMorgan, others on use of AI to collect data
Eight large companies, including Mastercard and JPMorgan Chase, have been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to provide detailed reports about their possibly secret use of artificial intelligence to track customers and use the information to set prices.
-
News BriefSpongeBob game developer ordered to pay $500K over CCPA, COPPA violations
Popular children’s mobile game developer Tilting Point Media agreed to pay $500,000 to settle allegations the company illegally collected children’s personal data, a violation under the California Consumer Privacy Act and a federal children’s privacy law.
More from Regulatory Enforcement
-
ArticleFTC secures $145 Million in settlements over misleading health insurance sales and data practices
Two major health insurance brokers will pay a combined $145 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that they misled millions of consumers and mishandled personal data, the agency announced Thursday.
-
ArticleOperators of crypto platform plead guilty to enabling money laundering
The owners of cryptocurrency mixing service Samourai Wallet pleaded guilty to transmitting more than $200 million in criminal transactions, according to the Department of Justice.
-
ArticleCrackdown on late payments could lead to U.K. companies facing million-pound fines
Late payers will soon face much larger fines in the U.K. in what is promised to be the “toughest crackdown on late payments in a generation.” The scheme is intended to save the 38 businesses a day that go bust because of poor payment practices.