Latest in Federal Trade Commission

UPDATED with more details: Google will pay $170 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission anda New York Attorney General Letitia James that YouTube illegally collected personal information from children without their parent's consent. The record fine, which had been anticipated after news reports that…

YouTube, which has been under pressure for facilitating inappropriate content viewed by children, is in discussions with federal regulators to end its advertising targeting on videos that appeal to kids, Bloomberg reported. Several years ago, Google-owned YouTube launched a new arena that would ostensibly house all of…

Facebook, which has faced intensifying government scrutiny after revelations of its misappropriation of user data, has agreed to a record $5 billion fine and new restrictions. In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission made public on Wednesday (hours before the company was slated to report its quarterly…

The Federal Trade Commission’s approval of a $5 billion settlement with Facebook sent shares in the tech giant up 1% in the final minutes of Friday’s trading session. Shares finished at $204.87, up nearly 2% on the day, and have reached their highest level in nearly a year. Investors increasingly see the company’s…

The holidays are a time for gifts, family, friends, and sometimes scams. The Federal Trade Commission has sent out a flare to warn Netflix users that there are some grinches out there looking to take advantage of everyone’s holiday bliss and vulnerability. In a post on the FTC’s website, they warned us of scammers…

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into concerns that social media stars are not properly declaring when they have been paid, or otherwise rewarded, to endorse goods or services. Where influencers are paid or rewarded to promote, review or talk about a product in their…

FanDuel and DraftKings’ dream of merging into a fantasy sports colossus ended today following the Federal Trade Commission’s decision last month to sue to block the deal. The companies “believed that this deal would have increased investment in growth and product development thereby benefiting consumers and the…

Updated with DraftKings/FanDuel statement: The Federal Trade Commission just threw a flag on the proposed merger of fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel. The regulatory agency — working with Attorneys General for California and D.C. — authorized a suit to stop the deal, charging it would violate antitrust laws…

Look out, Rob Lowe. The FTC says that DirecTV —  the company that the actor promotes in TV ads — has repeatedly misled consumers by making “deceptive claims or omissions of material facts” in commercials and its web site. Following a unanimous vote, the agency asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to bar the…

Is Dish Network so desperate for subscribers that it allowed telemarketers to violate laws that bar callers from badgering consumers? The No. 2 satellite company is liable for at least 57.6 million calls to people who wanted to be left alone, a U.S. District Court in Illinois says in a summary judgment made in…

This is the largest cramming settlement ever, and the largest enforcement action that the FCC has ever taken, Chairman Tom Wheeler says. His agency, the FTC, and all state attorneys general charged that since 2009 AT&T helped to bilk wireless customers by slipping unauthorized monthly charges into bills for texting…

Amazon should refund millions of dollars to parents charged for unauthorized purchases by their kids, the Federal Trade Commission says in a complaint it filed today at a U.S. District Court in Washington state. The agency is concerned about in-app orders in games, where it says Amazon keeps 30% of the charges. Kids…