Browse by regulator REGULATOR All FTC ASA (UK) CMA (UK) EU / DSA / GDPR ACCC / TGA (Australia) Competition Bureau (Canada)
Browse by violation type VIOLATION All False / unsupported advertising Privacy / consent Unsupported health claims Fake discount / reference price Auto-renew / negative option Drip pricing Greenwashing Undisclosed endorsements
INDUSTRY All Ecommerce Health & wellbeing Apps Fintech Food & beverage Travel SaaS Kids & minors
Biggest fines
Sort the table below by penalty size or by date. Sort: biggest fine first Sort: newest first
640 cases · showing 640 ⬇ Download CSV
COMPANY / CASE
REGULATOR
VIOLATION
PENALTY
DATE
Vir Health Ltd t/a Numan
The ASA upheld a complaint against Numan's Facebook ads claiming "40% of men with obesity have low testosteron…
ASA
Unsupported health claims
— Aug 26 '26
BioIdentical Hormone Therapy Ltd t/a BioID Health
The ASA upheld both issues in a complaint against BioID Health's ads, which used anti-GP framing such as "We t…
ASA
Unsupported health claims
— Aug 26 '26
Nutri-Paw Ltd t/a Healthy Dog
The ASA upheld a complaint against a Facebook ad for Nutri-Paw's Healthy Dog product, which implied dogs under…
ASA
Unsupported health claims
— Aug 26 '26
Stacey's World Rocks
The ASA upheld a complaint that a Telegram post from Stacey's World Rocks was socially irresponsible for encou…
ASA
Other
— Aug 26 '26
eHarmony
The Federal Court found eHarmony engaged in misleading conduct on five counts: "free dating" when ongoing cont…
ACCC
Auto-renew / negative option
— Aug 25 '26
Trainline
The CMA opened a DMCC direct-enforcement investigation into Trainline over booking fees (£0.59–£2.79 for train…
CMA
Drip pricing
— Aug 19 '26
Virgin Atlantic
The CMA opened a DMCC direct-enforcement investigation into Virgin Atlantic over mandatory resort fees and loc…
CMA
Drip pricing
— Aug 19 '26
RED Driving School
The CMA opened a DMCC direct-enforcement investigation into RED Driving School over a mandatory booking fee pl…
CMA
Drip pricing
— Aug 19 '26
Fenix Biomed BV
The ASA upheld a complaint against Fenix Biomed BV's own-site claims for a human tissue donation service, whic…
ASA
Made-in / origin claims
— Aug 19 '26
The Boots Company PLC
The ASA upheld a complaint against a Boots national press promotion for not being administered fairly, causing…
ASA
Other
— Aug 19 '26
Ferrero UK Ltd t/a Thorntons
The ASA did not uphold a complaint against a paid Instagram ad for Thorntons chocolate eggs ("OUR ICONIC EGGS"…
ASA
Other
— Aug 19 '26
Doxo, Inc.
Bill-payment platform Doxo agreed to a $2.1M consumer-redress settlement resolving a 2024 FTC complaint. The c…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$2.1M
Aug 17 '26
Marshall Freeman Collections
Debt collector Marshall Freeman Collections paid $59,400 across three ACCC infringement notices plus a court-e…
ACCC
Other
AU$59,400
Aug 14 '26
Columbus Energy
UOKiK opened proceedings against renewable-energy installer Columbus Energy over delayed refunds after consume…
UOKiK
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Jul 29 '26
TikTok
Commission preliminary finding that TikTok's default account settings leave minors' content and profiles publi…
European Commission
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
— Jul 24 '26
Google
€890M in DMA fines: €460M for self-preferencing Google's own services (Shopping, Hotels, Travel) over rivals' …
European Commission
Other
— Jul 23 '26
Autocentrum AAA Auto
UOKiK charged used-car dealer Autocentrum AAA Auto with making car loans conditional on buying add-ons (GPS lo…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Jul 23 '26
WBZ: dog waste bag 'biodegradable' claim
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a seller of dog waste bags advertised as “biologisch abbaubar” (biodegradable) …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Greenwashing
— Jul 22 '26
AliExpress
€550M DSA fine for inadequately assessing the risk of illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products on its marketpl…
European Commission
Other
— Jul 20 '26
University of Business and Applied Sciences 'Varsovia' / Higher School of Vocational Education
UOKiK charged the University of Business and Applied Sciences 'Varsovia' and the Higher School of Vocational E…
UOKiK
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Jul 20 '26
Milan-Cortina 2026 ambush marketing sweep
AGCM fined multiple companies a combined over EUR2.5 million for ambush marketing around the Milan-Cortina 202…
AGCM
Other
— Jul 17 '26
BGH: post-cancel confirmation page ruling
Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the confirmation page shown after a consumer clicks the ma…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Jul 16 '26
Wojan Group gaming influencers (YouTube/TikTok)
UOKiK opened proceedings against two Minecraft-focused YouTube/TikTok influencers for urging their young audie…
UOKiK
Fake urgency
— Jul 15 '26
LG Trier: dog food health-claims ruling
The Trier Regional Court prohibited a maker of dog food supplements from using unsubstantiated health- and dis…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Unsupported health claims
— Jul 15 '26
JMIT Distributors
JMIT Distributors Pty Ltd was fined $79,920 in infringement notices for nicotine vaping advertising, a case re…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$79,920
Jul 14 '26
EuGH: streaming subscription withdrawal-right ruling
The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that consumers' statutory right to withdraw from a streaming subscription…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jul 9 '26
Bald&
Bald&'s Day Cream for shaved heads was marketed with a UV callout and a sun icon reading "UV protection," desp…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Jul 7 '26
RentGrow
Tenant-screening company RentGrow agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle FTC allegations that it violated the F…
FTC
Other
$2.25M
Jul 1 '26
Celsius Network founders (Mashinsky/Leon/Goldstein)
Celsius Network's founders — Alex Mashinsky, Shlomi "Daniel" Leon, and Hanoch "Nuke" Goldstein — were ordered …
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
$16.5M
Jul 1 '26
Capgroup
Capgroup's ads for its investment product overstated likely returns, displayed a fabricated Trustpilot rating,…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
Grain Connect
Grain Connect's ad compared its prices against a competitor's price rise in a way the ASA found misleading, ex…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
CMA online-pricing sweep — progress update
The CMA's ongoing online-pricing sweep closed its case against Marks Electrical after the retailer removed aut…
CMA
Sneak into basket
— Jul 1 '26
Dignity Funerals
Dignity Funerals' TV ads for its funeral plans did not make clear enough that the plans covered only non-atten…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
Anam Healthcare t/a Healthful Pharmacy
An advertisement for Anam Healthcare, trading as Healthful Pharmacy, was withdrawn by the advertiser after an …
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '26
MedExpress
MedExpress, an online pharmacy, was flagged again for advertising issues adjacent to the ASA's ongoing GLP-1 w…
ASA
Unsupported health claims
— Jul 1 '26
Coffee-brand Instagram ad (22 Jul batch)
A paid Instagram ad for a coffee brand made unauthorised health and nutrition claims and cited an individual h…
ASA
Unsupported health claims
— Jul 1 '26
Videoslots t/a Mr Vegas
Videoslots, trading as Mr Vegas, ran a paid Facebook ad using imagery the ASA found had strong appeal to under…
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '26
Charlotte Dawson
Influencer Charlotte Dawson was the subject of ongoing ASA enforcement action in July 2026 over posts that fai…
ASA
Undisclosed endorsements
— Jul 1 '26
Capgroup (see #12)
A related ruling against Capgroup found its ads for unregulated investment products failed to give a proper ri…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
Stove Industry Alliance
The Stove Industry Alliance's ad compared wood-burning stove emissions to another heating source without makin…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
KFC / Domino's / Papa John's / Uber Eats
In the first wave of rulings under the UK's new 'less healthy food' (LHF) advertising restrictions, complaints…
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '26
Mars Wrigley (M&M's)
Mars Wrigley's paid social ad for M&M's used a brand character depicting the specific less-healthy product, wh…
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '26
Domino's Pizza UK & Ireland
In a second-wave 'less healthy food' ruling, Domino's TV, VOD and YouTube ads showed an identifiable less-heal…
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '26
Banco Santander
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Banco Santander over an internet ad branded 'Sustainable Banks' (Granada campaign) …
Autocontrol
Greenwashing
— Jul 1 '26
Securitas Direct / Verisure
Competitor complaint by Movistar Prosegur Alarmas against Securitas Direct (Verisure) over a TV/internet ad cl…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
CaixaBank
AUTOCONTROL ruling against CaixaBank over an internet ad promising a fee-free payroll account — per the case t…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '26
Growthmind/Wisey — FTC v. GM Universeapps Ltd. et al.
The FTC sued 15 corporations and 8 individuals behind the Universe Group/OBRIO/AMO network of apps — including…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$250M
Jun 30 '26
Coolblue
Coolblue advertised "order before 23:59, delivered free tomorrow," but a hover-over tooltip on the same claim …
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 30 '26
Rapiomed Group (Receptomat.pl)
UOKiK charged Rapiomed Group, operator of Receptomat.pl and l4.pl, with advertising 'telephone contact with a …
UOKiK
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 30 '26
Microsoft (Microsoft 365 AI price increase)
AGCM opened an investigation into Microsoft Ireland Operations and Microsoft S.r.l. over concerns it raised Mi…
AGCM
Other
— Jun 26 '26
Neonet
UOKiK fined Neonet (formerly NEO-24) over PLN 3M for advertising products as in-stock with 24-hour dispatch on…
UOKiK
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 26 '26
Deghi
AGCM fined e-commerce retailer Deghi S.p.A. EUR2 million for repeatedly using a countdown timer, between Janua…
AGCM
Fake urgency
— Jun 25 '26
KPN (telemarketing compliance)
An ACM audit found KPN called consumers and small businesses without consent, wasn't always clear about the pu…
ACM
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Jun 23 '26
Propeaq
A TikTok influencer promoted Propeaq light-therapy glasses by tying them to her ADD and winter mood/energy pro…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Jun 23 '26
Bold LLC (Interviewme.pl)
UOKiK fined Bold LLC, operator of CV-builder Interviewme.pl, over PLN 760,000 for only revealing that download…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Jun 19 '26
Kokoon
Finanstilsynet and Forbrukertilsynet jointly warned that Kokoon Global markets itself to investors with unreal…
Forbrukertilsynet
Earnings claims
— Jun 18 '26
Easy Payment / Fincard
UOKiK is investigating credit-card providers Easy Payment (Axi Card) and Fincard (Net Credit/Halvo) over fee s…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Jun 16 '26
ANWB
An ANWB-sold Norway package let shoppers pick between two advertised hotels, but clicking any date funneled ev…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 11 '26
Google (AI Overview false statements)
The Munich Regional Court I prohibited Google from making certain false factual claims in its 'AI Overview' se…
Wettbewerbszentrale
AI transparency
— Jun 11 '26
Philip Morris Italia (tobacco harm claims)
AGCM fined Philip Morris Italia EUR7 million for unfair commercial practice, finding its advertising misled co…
AGCM
Unsupported health claims
— Jun 10 '26
Samsung
Samsung's product page described the Galaxy S26 Ultra's "Now Nudge" Galaxy AI feature in terms that overstated…
RCC
AI transparency
— Jun 9 '26
Nocowanie.pl
UOKiK charged booking platform Nocowanie.pl with failing to disclose whether guest reviews are verified as com…
UOKiK
Fake reviews
— Jun 9 '26
OLG Düsseldorf: fake 'product test' criteria ruling
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court clarified when advertising with a supposedly neutral third-party 'product…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Fake reviews
— Jun 9 '26
McDonald's
McDonald's Netherlands' website listed the McKroket under its "Meatless" menu header, even though no vegetaria…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 8 '26
Basic-Fit
Basic-Fit's bold "2 weeks free + free sports bag" offer buried the real terms -- a mandatory paid annual membe…
RCC
Drip pricing
— Jun 6 '26
Volotea
AGCM launched an investigation and an interim-measures procedure against airline Volotea over its practice of …
AGCM
Drip pricing
— Jun 4 '26
OLG Hamm: chatbot statement liability ruling
The Hamm Higher Regional Court ruled a company liable for misleading claims made by its own customer-facing ch…
Wettbewerbszentrale
AI transparency
— Jun 3 '26
LG Berlin II: insurance broker misrepresentation ruling
The Berlin Regional Court II ruled that an insurance broker may not advertise in a way that creates the impres…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 3 '26
Volkswagen (dieselgate fine overturned)
The Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal overturned ACM's 2017 EUR450,000 fine against Volkswagen for mis…
ACM
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 2 '26
OLG Hamburg: hearing-aid referral voucher ruling
The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court ruled that a hearing-aid retailer could not offer existing customers vouch…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Jun 2 '26
Microsoft (Xbox Game Pass)
Microsoft's poster ads for Xbox Game Pass failed to disclose that some in-game content or features required ad…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 1 '26
Cocunat
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Cocunat over an internet ad questioning weight loss after age 35 — implies an unsub…
Autocontrol
Unsupported health claims
— Jun 1 '26
Aspro Parks
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Aspro Parks over a billboard ad claiming to be 'the biggest water park in Europe' —…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 1 '26
L'Oréal España (Lancôme)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against L'Oréal over a TV ad for Lancôme Absolue Longevity asking 'what if you could revers…
Autocontrol
Unsupported health claims
— Jun 1 '26
Bears with Benefits
Gummy-vitamin brand Bears with Benefits claimed products like "One Bear a Day Immune Vitamin" and "Intimate Ba…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— May 29 '26
H&M / Peek & Cloppenburg
UOKiK charged H&M and Peek & Cloppenburg with failing to show the required lowest 30-day pre-discount price on…
UOKiK
Fake discount / reference price
— May 29 '26
House of Tickets (Ticketveiling.nl)
Dutch auction site Ticketveiling.nl (House of Tickets B.V.) ran an algorithm that placed bids under fake names…
ACM
Other
— May 28 '26
Temu
€200M DSA fine after Temu's risk assessment relied on generic e-commerce sector data instead of its own platfo…
European Commission
Other
— May 28 '26
Better Experience (BE) / Sagemaster / DeepSage
BE, Sagemaster and its AI platform DeepSage market unlicensed investment services in Norway — automated/algori…
Forbrukertilsynet
Earnings claims
— May 28 '26
Blooming Good
Flower-subscription company Blooming Good claimed its artificial and fresh flower plans were "the most sustain…
RCC
Greenwashing
— May 28 '26
GoGreenSalt
Road-salt supplier GoGreenSalt branded itself with "CO2-neutral road salt" and "the green choice in de-icing" …
RCC
Greenwashing
— May 27 '26
WBZ: fake official-looking civil registry portal
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a private provider's certificate-application website that was designed to look …
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— May 27 '26
Soosatelier
Soosatelier ran a permanent "SALE ENDS TODAY" banner on product pages; a shopper who'd already complained abou…
RCC
Fake urgency
— May 26 '26
Floyd.no
Norway's Market Council fully upheld a NOK 2 million fine against webshop Floyd.no for violating reference-pri…
Forbrukertilsynet
Fake discount / reference price
— May 21 '26
Mobile Marketing Center
UOKiK fined Mobile Marketing Center over PLN 2.2M (plus PLN 420,000 on its manager) for advertising non-existe…
UOKiK
False / unsupported advertising
— May 21 '26
Hulp-in Huis (house-cleaning subscription sites)
Three Dutch cleaning-services websites run by Hulp-in Huis B.V. signed consumers up to paid subscriptions with…
ACM
Auto-renew / negative option
— May 18 '26
Bolt Operations OÜ
UOKiK challenged 22 clauses in Bolt Operations' scooter and e-bike rental terms, including provisions letting …
UOKiK
Other
— May 15 '26
Beliani
While investigating whether furniture retailer Beliani misled consumers with price reductions and urgency mess…
UOKiK
Fake discount / reference price
— May 14 '26
KPN
KPN's "Snelpakker" internet offer displayed a live countdown clock next to the discount, implying the deal wou…
RCC
Fake urgency
— May 13 '26
Quatt
Quatt sent a personalized-looking letter claiming a specific address could save EUR912/year by joining a neigh…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— May 13 '26
LG Köln: Instagram ad-labeling ruling
The Cologne Regional Court ruled that an operator of event-recommendation pages had to make advertising recogn…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Undisclosed endorsements
— May 13 '26
Glovo / Deliveroo (rider ethics claims)
AGCM opened investigations into Glovo group companies (Glovoapp23, Foodinho, Glovo Infrastructure Services Ita…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— May 12 '26
DPD
Courier DPD's Google ad for a 25%-off welcome offer claimed "DPD = the cheapest in the Netherlands," an absolu…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— May 12 '26
I AM Superwater
Bottled-water brand I AM Superwater marketed "alkaline water pH 9+" with wellness-styled copy implying health …
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— May 11 '26
Black Red White / Żabka Nano / Peek & Cloppenburg
UOKiK charged furniture chain Black Red White, Żabka's Nano convenience stores, and Peek & Cloppenburg with fa…
UOKiK
Fake discount / reference price
— May 8 '26
(mobile game publisher -- appeal precedent)
Building on a 2024 ruling that loot boxes must be disclosed in Apple App Store listings, the Advertising Code …
RCC
Other
— May 6 '26
Panek
UOKiK charged car-rental firm Panek with using contract terms that put the burden of proof on customers to dis…
UOKiK
Other
— May 6 '26
SnackVerse
SnackVerse advertised a subscription snack box without disclosing that fulfilment was subject to allocation co…
ASA
Auto-renew / negative option
— May 1 '26
Course Accreditation Ltd
Course Accreditation Ltd made objective and comparative claims about its accreditation services that it could …
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— May 1 '26
Trade Republic Bank
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Trade Republic Bank over an internet ad claiming 24-hour customer support availabil…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— May 1 '26
Telefónica de España
Competitor complaint by Orange against Telefónica over a multi-channel campaign claiming to have 'the safest n…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— May 1 '26
Novo Nordisk Pharma
Competitor complaint by Eli Lilly against Novo Nordisk over promotional conduct/activities related to Wegovy (…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— May 1 '26
Coles
Coles allegedly raised prices on hundreds of products for a period and then "discounted" them back to around o…
ACCC
Fake discount / reference price
— May 1 '26
DeepSeek / Mistral / NOVA AI (hallucination transparency)
AGCM closed three investigations into AI companies DeepSeek, Mistral and NOVA AI with commitments to improve t…
AGCM
AI transparency
— Apr 30 '26
Marcel's Green Soap
Colgate filed a complaint against competitor Marcel's Green Soap over "cruelty-free" and free-from-ingredient …
RCC
Greenwashing
— Apr 30 '26
Travelplanet.pl
UOKiK fined travel agent Travelplanet.pl nearly PLN 650,000 after finding trip prices shown in search results …
UOKiK
False / unsupported advertising
— Apr 30 '26
LG Stuttgart: pillow/duvet sleep-claims ruling
The Stuttgart Regional Court prohibited a pillow and duvet maker from making numerous sleep/health-benefit cla…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Unsupported health claims
— Apr 29 '26
Men's Health (NL)
An article on menshealth.nl titled "The five best brands for a well-groomed bald head," bylined to an editor, …
RCC
Undisclosed endorsements
— Apr 24 '26
Becel
Becel Nederland's TikTok video tied its Haver & Vezels spread to the "fibermaxing" wellness trend with fiber-i…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Apr 23 '26
Live Nation
UOKiK fined Live Nation over PLN 15M and ordered consumer refunds after finding its terms made it hard to get …
UOKiK
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Apr 23 '26
Amare
A supplement seller's Instagram post made unlawful health claims; on appeal, the Advertising Code Appeal Board…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Apr 22 '26
PEZ
A PEZ candy dispenser featuring Sonic the Hedgehog was found in an Action store; using a licensed children's c…
RCC
Other
— Apr 22 '26
Viaplay
Viaplay's TV ad flagged its Formula 1 subscription price as "temporarily EUR14.92/month," a framing the Commis…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Apr 20 '26
Aldi
Aldi's flyer claimed to be "the cheapest in the whole Netherlands" based on a single consumer-show price compa…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Apr 14 '26
DVG Dankeschön-Vorteils-Gesellschaft mbH
Wettbewerbszentrale issued a cease-and-desist against DVG Dankeschön-Vorteils-Gesellschaft mbH for direct-mail…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Apr 14 '26
Secures
Online retailer Secures prominently advertised "14-day cooling-off period for distance purchases" on nearly ev…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Apr 7 '26
Revolut
AGCM fined Revolut Securities Europe and Revolut Group Holdings over EUR11 million for spreading misleading in…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— Apr 2 '26
Biedronka / Lidl
UOKiK found that Biedronka and Lidl self-checkout screens and receipts didn't clearly show which promotions ha…
UOKiK
Fake discount / reference price
— Apr 2 '26
AA / BSM Driving Schools
The CMA found AA and BSM driving schools advertised a headline price for lessons that excluded mandatory fees;…
CMA
Drip pricing
£760k
Apr 1 '26
Skill on Net t/a Gecko Play
Skill on Net, trading as Gecko Play, ran an Instagram ad that the ASA found portrayed gambling in a socially i…
ASA
Other
— Apr 1 '26
AC Marca Personal Care (Lactovit)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against AC Marca over Lactovit packaging claiming it is 'recommended by 9 out of 10 dermato…
Autocontrol
Unsupported health claims
— Apr 1 '26
Zara España
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Zara over an internet ad/imagery flagged as promoting unhealthy thinness — per the …
Autocontrol
Other
— Apr 1 '26
Emma Sleep
Emma Sleep ran near-continuous "sale" pricing against inflated reference prices across 74 products, so the adv…
ACCC
Fake discount / reference price
AU$15,000,000
Apr 1 '26
WBZ: unlabeled podcast host-read advertising
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a podcast episode in which editorial content transitioned directly into paid ad…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Undisclosed endorsements
— Mar 31 '26
Sephora / Benefit Cosmetics (micro-influencer marketing to minors)
AGCM opened investigations into Sephora Italia and LVMH's Benefit Cosmetics over concerns they failed to make …
AGCM
Undisclosed endorsements
— Mar 27 '26
Polska Energia Grupa Kapitałowa / Energia dla Pokoleń / Nasz Prąd
UOKiK fined Polska Energia Grupa Kapitałowa and Energia dla Pokoleń a combined PLN 7M+ (plus ~PLN 400,000 on m…
UOKiK
Fake urgency
— Mar 27 '26
SWPS University / Lublin University of Technology
UOKiK fined SWPS University and Lublin University of Technology nearly PLN 3M combined for raising continuing …
UOKiK
Other
— Mar 27 '26
EU Black Friday/Cyber Monday sweep
EU-wide sweep of 314 online traders during Black Friday/Cyber Monday found 30% misstated their discount refere…
European Commission
Fake discount / reference price
— Mar 26 '26
PornHub, Stripchat, XNXX, XVideos
Commission preliminarily found four major adult platforms in breach of the DSA for failing to keep minors from…
European Commission
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
— Mar 26 '26
Snapchat
Commission opened formal DSA proceedings into Snapchat over child-safety failures: self-declaration as the onl…
European Commission
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
— Mar 26 '26
BGH: medical cannabis consumer-advertising ban
The Federal Court of Justice confirmed, in a landmark Wettbewerbszentrale case against a telemedicine platform…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Unsupported health claims
— Mar 26 '26
EU Commission discount-advertising sweep
The European Commission presented findings from an EU-wide market sweep of discount/reference-price advertisin…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Fake discount / reference price
— Mar 26 '26
EuGH: processing-fee price-display ruling
The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that a processing fee charged only below a minimum order value does not n…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Drip pricing
— Mar 26 '26
BGH: retailer liability for erroneous Google Ads
The Federal Court of Justice ruled that a retailer is liable for competition-law violations in Google Ads adve…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Mar 24 '26
OLG Köln: insurance broker 'independence' claim ruling
The Cologne Higher Regional Court ruled that an insurance broker may not advertise itself as 'independent' on …
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Mar 24 '26
Trustpilot
AGCM fined Trustpilot Group, Trustpilot A/S and Trustpilot S.r.l. EUR4 million for unfair commercial practice,…
AGCM
Fake reviews
— Mar 23 '26
Apple (dating-app commission)
ACM's order forcing Apple to stop charging dating-app providers 30% (15% for smaller providers) commission on …
ACM
App-store billing evasion
— Mar 20 '26
WBZ: pet 'worm cure' disease-claim challenges
Wettbewerbszentrale has increasingly challenged pet-supplement makers for disease-related claims (e.g. dewormi…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Unsupported health claims
— Mar 19 '26
Seats and Sofas
ACM found furniture retailer Seats and Sofas made customers pay pickup or technician fees to exercise their st…
ACM
Other
— Mar 17 '26
Uwantisell
Fashion retailer uwantisell.nl temporarily raised prices on two items right before its Black Friday sale, then…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Mar 17 '26
Basic-Fit
A TikTok influencer filmed a gym "experiment" at Basic-Fit built around the premise "is it true that people wi…
RCC
Other
— Mar 13 '26
Tchibo vs. Aldi Süd — coffee price comparison dispute
Tchibo is appealing to the Federal Court of Justice against Aldi Süd after losing at the Düsseldorf Higher Reg…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Mar 12 '26
Diamond Dental
Norway's Market Council upheld a ban and a NOK 1.8 million fine against Diamond Dental AS for using customer r…
Forbrukertilsynet
Fake reviews
— Mar 11 '26
The Good Roll
Sustainable paper company The Good Roll advertised a bond investment with a "fixed 10% annual return," full-pa…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Mar 11 '26
Idea-Inwest / M2R / Jelbud
UOKiK charged developers Idea-Inwest, M2R, and Jelbud with telling flat buyers they had to sign new contract a…
UOKiK
Other
— Mar 11 '26
OLG Karlsruhe: automotive influencer press-trip disclosure ruling
The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, in a Wettbewerbszentrale case, ordered an automotive influencer to label …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Undisclosed endorsements
— Mar 11 '26
Wellis Health
Wellis Health's Facebook posts, some via an influencer, claimed "tailored weight loss," "scientifically substa…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Mar 10 '26
WBZ: 'climate neutral' dental-care product claims
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a dental-care manufacturer's 'climate neutral' claims for toothbrushes sold in …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Greenwashing
— Mar 5 '26
StudyGo
StudyGo's "try StudyGo Pro free for 7 days" offer required a EUR0.01 card-verification charge, after which the…
RCC
Auto-renew / negative option
— Mar 3 '26
D-Reizen
D-Reizen listed a Portugal package at EUR268 due to a technical pricing error; the Appeal Board ruled the erro…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Mar 3 '26
Match Bingo (Spurs squad)
A complaint against Match Bingo's YouTube ad featuring Tottenham Hotspur players was not upheld because the AS…
ASA
Other
— Mar 1 '26
A&M House Inmobiliaria
AUTOCONTROL ruling against A&M House Inmobiliaria over an internet property listing's energy-efficiency rating…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Mar 1 '26
WBZ: EV-subsidy price advertising by car dealers
Wettbewerbszentrale is pursuing multiple car dealers for advertising prices that simply deduct the state EV pu…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Fake discount / reference price
— Feb 26 '26
WBZ: tobacco-heater product advertising challenge
Wettbewerbszentrale took action against advertising for a heated-tobacco product placed in a nationwide consum…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Feb 24 '26
UnitedConsumers
A customer who signed up for UnitedConsumers Energie B.V. started receiving unsolicited insurance marketing fr…
RCC
Privacy / consent
— Feb 23 '26
Zycon (De Koaly)
Zycon's zycon.shop marketed a koala plush toy, "De Koaly," as "the first plushtoy in the world with AI motion …
RCC
AI transparency
— Feb 23 '26
WBZ: hearing-aid retailer 'Number 1' claim ruling
Wettbewerbszentrale obtained an order barring a hearing-aid acoustician from calling itself 'Number 1' in its …
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Feb 23 '26
Bernabei
AGCM fined Bernabei s.r.l. and Bernabei Liquori s.r.l. a combined EUR400,000 for making misleading claims and …
AGCM
Fake discount / reference price
— Feb 20 '26
T-Mobile (discount-loss penalty)
UOKiK ruled that T-Mobile's PLN 5 e-invoice/timely-payment discount, which disappeared for the rest of a custo…
UOKiK
Other
— Feb 19 '26
OLG Frankfurt: 'physician for aesthetic medicine' title ruling
The Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court ruled that a doctor advertising as 'Arzt für ästhetische Medizin' …
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Feb 19 '26
Shein
Commission opened formal DSA proceedings against Shein over gamified addictive design (points/rewards for enga…
European Commission
Other
— Feb 17 '26
Tomado
Tomado's rice cooker product page advertised a "PFAS-free" non-stick coating, a claim the Commission found nee…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Feb 17 '26
HBO Europe
UOKiK charged HBO Europe with unilaterally narrowing the list of TV devices compatible with its service and fa…
UOKiK
Other
— Feb 17 '26
WBZ: ready-meal 'sustainable cultivation' claim challenge
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a food manufacturer's ready-meal packaging claiming the pasta came from 'sustai…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Greenwashing
— Feb 16 '26
Nestle, Mondelez, JDE Peet's (coffee & cacao sustainability claims)
Three major coffee and cocoa companies committed to ACM that they'll stop using unsubstantiated terms like 're…
ACM
Greenwashing
— Feb 12 '26
Procter & Gamble (Braun Skin i-Expert)
AGCM opened an investigation into Procter & Gamble over concerns that its marketing campaign for the Braun Ski…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— Feb 12 '26
Luvion Baby
A sponsored Luvion Baby Instagram video opened with a headline about rising SIDS rates and parents trusting so…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Feb 12 '26
dm-drogerie markt (sale of medicines)
Wettbewerbszentrale filed suit at the Karlsruhe Regional Court against drugstore chain dm over its sale of med…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Feb 12 '26
TikTok
Commission preliminarily found TikTok in breach of the DSA for addictive design — infinite scroll, autoplay, a…
European Commission
Other
— Feb 6 '26
Wiedza i Praktyka
UOKiK charged publishing house Wiedza i Praktyka with misleading consumers when offering 'free' sample copies …
UOKiK
Auto-renew / negative option
— Feb 6 '26
eDreams (Prime subscription dark patterns)
AGCM fined Vacaciones eDreams, eDreams International Network and eDreams S.r.l. a combined EUR9 million for us…
AGCM
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Feb 4 '26
Orange Polska
UOKiK fined Orange Polska over PLN 34M for charging prepaid customers PLN 5 for account inactivity — a fee nev…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Feb 4 '26
LG Augsburg: AI lead-generation system ruling
The Augsburg Regional Court prohibited a provider from advertising an AI-driven 'lead generation' system that …
Wettbewerbszentrale
AI transparency
— Feb 3 '26
Nespresso
Nespresso ran a "temporarily 15% off capsules & 20% off accessories" banner that a shopper found was still run…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Feb 2 '26
Colgate-Palmolive España
Competitor complaint by Haleon against Colgate-Palmolive over 'Active Prevention' toothpaste claims across int…
Autocontrol
Unsupported health claims
— Feb 1 '26
Roblox
ACM opened a roughly year-long formal investigation into whether Roblox meets DSA minor-protection requirement…
ACM
Other
— Jan 30 '26
Candyspot.nl (LOL Surprise)
Foodwatch complained that a "LOL Adventskalender" sold via candyspot.nl used a licensed children's character o…
RCC
Other
— Jan 30 '26
PKO Bank Polski
UOKiK ruled PKO BP's contract clauses allowing unilateral interest-rate changes on overdraft credit were unlaw…
UOKiK
Other
— Jan 30 '26
Bamboo-Spa-Apeldoorn
A Facebook ad for Bamboo-Spa-Apeldoorn's cryolipolysis (fat-freezing) treatment promised "-2cm per treatment g…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 28 '26
Benefit Systems
UOKiK charged Benefit Systems (Zdrofit, Fabryka Formy, and other fitness brands) with promoting a low first-mo…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Jan 26 '26
Sovendus
After a Tikkie payment was completed, third-party ad network Sovendus inserted a "thank you" screen styled to …
RCC
Other
— Jan 23 '26
Cineplex
The Federal Court of Appeal rejected Cineplex's appeal of the Competition Tribunal's 2024 finding that its $1.…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$38.9M (penalty upheld on appeal)
Jan 23 '26
Uber Eats
A person who says they've never been an Uber Eats customer received years of unsolicited direct-mail advertisi…
RCC
Privacy / consent
— Jan 22 '26
LG Bremen: online car-appraisal advertising ruling
The Bremen Regional Court, in a Wettbewerbszentrale case, ruled several advertising claims made by an online v…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 22 '26
D-Reizen
Dutch consumer watchdog Consumentenbond complained that a D-Reizen online package deal stayed live on the site…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 21 '26
Bolt / Tchibo / Zara
UOKiK charged ride-hailing app Bolt, coffee brand Tchibo, and fashion retailer Zara with greenwashing — using …
UOKiK
Greenwashing
— Jan 21 '26
Aktief Bouwen (fake customer-service number)
The District Court of Rotterdam confirmed ACM was right to withdraw a paid information number that Aktief Bouw…
ACM
Other
— Jan 20 '26
Samsung Electronics Polska
UOKiK charged Samsung Electronics Polska with failing to properly verify and disclose how it verifies product …
UOKiK
Fake reviews
— Jan 20 '26
Eerlijke WOZ
Consumers reported that Eerlijke WOZ's property-tax-appeal website led them to unknowingly grant the company a…
ACM
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jan 19 '26
Activision Blizzard (Diablo Immortal / Call of Duty Mobile)
AGCM opened two investigations into Activision Blizzard (Microsoft group) over concerns that Diablo Immortal a…
AGCM
Other
— Jan 16 '26
OnePark / Apcoa / Aimo Park
Counter-example: Forbrukertilsynet had ordered parking operators OnePark, Apcoa and Aimo Park to stop charging…
Forbrukertilsynet
Drip pricing
— Jan 16 '26
Epic Games (Fortnite)
The District Court of Rotterdam upheld ACM's 2024 fine and binding instruction against Epic Games, finding tha…
ACM
Fake urgency
— Jan 14 '26
Zalando / Temu
UOKiK fined Zalando and Temu a combined ~PLN 37M for not properly disclosing the mandatory lowest 30-day pre-d…
UOKiK
Fake discount / reference price
— Jan 14 '26
LG Frankfurt: review-authenticity disclosure ruling
On a Wettbewerbszentrale complaint, the Frankfurt am Main Regional Court ruled that an unclear or ambiguous st…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Fake reviews
— Jan 14 '26
Gulf Gas + Power
ACM found energy supplier Gulf Gas + Power charged early-termination fees above what the rules allow, failed t…
ACM
Drip pricing
— Jan 13 '26
OLG München: advertorial teaser labeling ruling
The Munich Higher Regional Court confirmed, in a Wettbewerbszentrale case, that teaser links/previews pointing…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Undisclosed endorsements
— Jan 13 '26
Amazon
A shopper received another unsolicited marketing email from Amazon despite a prior chair's ruling (case 2025/0…
RCC
Privacy / consent
— Jan 12 '26
Kwantum
Kwantum's radio ad said "all popular curtains custom-made for free," but only select models actually qualified…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 10 '26
Fairday Clinics
An Instagram post for Fairday Clinics advertised tiered Botox pricing ("zone 1 EUR99", "zone 2 EUR89", "zone 3…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 8 '26
BGH: fiber-optic contract minimum-term start-date ruling
The Federal Court of Justice ruled a telecom operator's standard-terms clause invalid where the contractual mi…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jan 8 '26
Mamedica
Mamedica, a medical cannabis clinic, made price comparisons in its advertising that the ASA found could not be…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 1 '26
Lansan Digital Word
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Lansan Digital Word over an internet ad claiming a product ('Maximus Fallout') had …
Autocontrol
Fake urgency
— Jan 1 '26
Dyson Spain
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Dyson over an internet ad promising free delivery within 24-72 hours — per the case…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 1 '26
Telehealth weight-loss medicine sweep
Multiple telehealth businesses and individuals were fined a combined total of more than $300,000 in infringeme…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$300,000+
Jan 1 '26
iGenius / International Markets Live
UOKiK fined US-based iGenius and International Markets Live a combined PLN 24M+ for running prohibited pyramid…
UOKiK
Earnings claims
— Dec 30 '25
OLG Düsseldorf: percentage discount off UVP ruling
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court ruled that a retailer's flyer advertising a percentage price reduction ag…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Fake discount / reference price
— Dec 23 '25
Hoogvliet
Supermarket Hoogvliet's flyer showed side-by-side receipts claiming "Hoogvliet is 20% cheaper" than Albert Hei…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 22 '25
Stellantis / Tesla / BYD / Volkswagen (EV range & battery claims)
AGCM closed four investigations into Stellantis Europe, Tesla Italy, BYD Industria Italia and Volkswagen Group…
AGCM
Speed / performance claims
— Dec 19 '25
Pekao S.A. / Pekao Bank Hipoteczny
UOKiK fined Pekao S.A. and Pekao Bank Hipoteczny nearly PLN 119M for shortening the statutory mortgage-payment…
UOKiK
Other
— Dec 19 '25
Velderhof
After a Dutch consumer-rights TV segment exposed Velderhof pressuring elderly customers into fast purchase dec…
ACM
Fake urgency
— Dec 18 '25
Trunkrs
Last-mile delivery company Trunkrs described itself on its homepage and About page as sustainable and "on the …
RCC
Greenwashing
— Dec 17 '25
HelloFresh & Youfoodz
HelloFresh and Youfoodz advertised that customers could cancel any time before a cut-off, but the ACCC alleges…
ACCC
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Dec 16 '25
Spotta
A resident with a legal "no unaddressed mail except X" opt-out sticker kept receiving Spotta flyer packs; when…
RCC
Privacy / consent
— Dec 15 '25
Surfshark
Surfshark's own blog post listing VPN benefits claimed a VPN "keeps you safer online, whether you're gaming or…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 15 '25
Autosync
Toll-tag operator Autosync doubled its AutoPass subscription price without clearly flagging the increase (buri…
Forbrukertilsynet
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Dec 12 '25
Play (P4)
UOKiK fined Play operator P4 over PLN 108M for a billing mechanism where a late payment triggered loss of the …
UOKiK
Other
— Dec 12 '25
dm-drogerie markt (in-store eye screening)
Wettbewerbszentrale filed suit seeking a court ruling on whether the vision/eye-screening service offered in d…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Dec 11 '25
Six call centre companies (misleading energy/phone telemarketing)
AGCM fined six call centre companies (including Titanium S.r.l. and Fire S.r.l.) a combined EUR500,000-plus fo…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 9 '25
T-Mobile ('Order with T-Mobile')
UOKiK found T-Mobile's one-click mobile purchase feature billed customers for subscriptions they hadn't knowin…
UOKiK
Auto-renew / negative option
— Dec 9 '25
LG Karlsruhe: physician third-party advertising ruling
The Karlsruhe Regional Court prohibited an assistant physician (Assistenzarzt) from using his professional med…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 9 '25
OLG Düsseldorf: airline CO2 offset advertising ruling
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court ruled that an airline's advertising of CO2 compensation/offsetting for fl…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Greenwashing
— Dec 8 '25
TikTok
TikTok made binding commitments to fix its DSA ad repository after a 2025 Commission investigation found it no…
European Commission
Other
— Dec 5 '25
L'Oreal
A L'Oreal Elvive Fiber Booster TV ad opened with the voice-over hook "hair loss?" while a barely-visible one-s…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 5 '25
Vectra
UOKiK fined repeat offender Vectra over PLN 80M for continuing to unilaterally raise TV/internet subscription …
UOKiK
Auto-renew / negative option
— Dec 5 '25
Albert Heijn
Several Albert Heijn own-brand dairy products (milk, yoghurt, buttermilk) carried claims and cow imagery the C…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Dec 4 '25
Eneco
An Eneco Facebook ad implied customers could avoid solar feed-in costs entirely "if you do this," a claim the …
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 4 '25
Stage Entertainment (Disney Frozen the Musical)
A Stage Entertainment Facebook ad for "Disney Frozen de musical" flagged the show as "stops definitively" alon…
RCC
Fake urgency
— Dec 4 '25
Jeronimo Martins Polska (Biedronka)
UOKiK fined Jeronimo Martins Polska nearly PLN 105M after its 'Special Wednesday'/'Valentine's Wednesday' camp…
UOKiK
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 4 '25
NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen)
NS sent a service-email-list blast to its customer base with the CEO's one-sided characterization of an ongoin…
RCC
Other
— Dec 2 '25
WBZ: 'climate neutral' construction-company claims
Wettbewerbszentrale took action against two construction companies for making blanket 'climate neutral' claims…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Greenwashing
— Dec 2 '25
Uber (Uber One)
The FTC, joined by 21 states, sued Uber alleging it enrolled consumers in the Uber One subscription without cl…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$25
Dec 1 '25
Rytr
The FTC's 2024 order against AI writing tool Rytr, which targeted its "AI Review Generator" feature capable of…
FTC
Fake reviews
— Dec 1 '25
Fake-review warning letters (Rule 465)
The FTC sent warning letters to roughly a dozen companies under the Consumer Review Rule (16 CFR 465), which b…
FTC
Fake reviews
$53,088
Dec 1 '25
Prenotazioni24
AGCM fined Prenotazioni24 s.r.l. EUR500,000 for failing to clearly disclose, in its promotion and resale of Me…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 1 '25
Individual seller (Vodafone-branded offer)
Complaint by Vodafone against a private seller's ad offering a 'phone for €1 over 24 months plus free shipping…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 1 '25
Clínica Dr. Miguel Leclercq
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Clínica Dr. Miguel Leclercq over a billboard ad for penis-enlargement procedures — …
Autocontrol
Unsupported health claims
— Dec 1 '25
OLG Brandenburg: unsolicited fax marketing (health app) ruling
The Brandenburg Higher Regional Court, in a Wettbewerbszentrale case, ruled that an unsolicited fax sent to a …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Nov 27 '25
Energie VanOns
Energie VanOns marketed "CO2-compensated gas," explaining the CO2 from customers' gas use is "paid for" via ca…
RCC
Greenwashing
— Nov 24 '25
Google (cross-service data linking consent)
AGCM closed with commitments its investigation into how Google obtained consent for "linking" user activity ac…
AGCM
Privacy / consent
— Nov 21 '25
Dutch retail discount sweep (Black Friday)
A pre-holiday-season ACM sweep found that 75% of retailers checked presented discounts incorrectly, making mar…
ACM
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 20 '25
LOT Polish Airlines
UOKiK charged LOT with telling passengers on its website it bore no liability for baggage damage from 'normal …
UOKiK
Other
— Nov 19 '25
Tannico
AGCM fined online wine retailer Tannico s.r.l. EUR150,000 for unfair commercial practice, finding it advertise…
AGCM
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 17 '25
Otrium
Outlet retailer Otrium listed a sneaker at EUR138 next to an "adviesprijs" (recommended price) of EUR230, plus…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 17 '25
Wizz Air (All You Can Fly subscription)
AGCM fined Wizz Air Hungary EUR500,000 for promoting its annual "Wizz All You Can Fly" subscription without ad…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— Nov 14 '25
Sense Chocolate
Sense Chocolate's website claimed ingredients like Epimedium and Ginseng in its chocolate "boost libido," "inc…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Nov 12 '25
WBZ: real estate company's misleading use of the federal flag
Wettbewerbszentrale took action against a real estate company for using the German federal flag on its website…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Nov 12 '25
Norwegian / SAS + 19 other European airlines
Led by Norway's Forbrukertilsynet working with the EU Commission and regulators in Belgium, the Netherlands an…
Forbrukertilsynet
Greenwashing
— Nov 7 '25
21 European airlines (sustainability claims)
Following a joint action led by ACM with consumer authorities in Belgium, Norway and Spain, 21 European airlin…
ACM
Greenwashing
— Nov 6 '25
21 European airlines
21 airlines including Ryanair, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France and easyJet committed to stop claiming a specific fl…
European Commission
Greenwashing
— Nov 6 '25
MUD Jeans
Sustainable-denim brand MUD Jeans claimed its production techniques let it make "the most sustainable jeans on…
RCC
Greenwashing
— Nov 6 '25
Specsavers
A Specsavers TV ad framed its always-free eye tests against an implied contrast -- "if you have to pay for it,…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Nov 6 '25
Polkomtel
UOKiK charged Polkomtel with charging prepaid customers an undisclosed number-maintenance fee for inactivity, …
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Nov 6 '25
Man Project (Coveri Tailor outlet pricing)
AGCM fined Man Project S.r.l. EUR300,000 for unfair commercial practice: it sold clothing under the Coveri Tai…
AGCM
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 5 '25
Aldi
Aldi's flyer and packaging labeled "Gardenline Biologische potgrond" (organic potting soil) as "Bio," but the …
RCC
Greenwashing
— Nov 3 '25
Domestika
Domestika advertised what it called a 'one-off purchase' for online courses, but the offer was actually struct…
ASA
Auto-renew / negative option
— Nov 1 '25
Henkel Ibérica (Wipp Express)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Henkel over a social-media ad for Wipp Express claiming to remove tough stains — a …
Autocontrol
Speed / performance claims
— Nov 1 '25
Novo Nordisk Pharma
Competitor complaint by Eli Lilly against Novo Nordisk over promotional activity — per the case title only, fu…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Nov 1 '25
LG Berlin II: 'well-tolerated' food supplement claim ruling
The Berlin Regional Court II ruled that advertising a food supplement as 'verträglich' (well-tolerated) for pe…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Unsupported health claims
— Oct 30 '25
Mother's Earth
Mother's Earth's website ran a comparison table pitching its laundry strips against liquid detergent, pods and…
RCC
Greenwashing
— Oct 29 '25
InGroup International (InCruises)
UOKiK fined InGroup International (formerly InCruises International) PLN 5.28M after finding its cruise 'club'…
UOKiK
Earnings claims
— Oct 27 '25
Unilever
After the Dutch Consumers' Association flagged claims like 'sustainably grown peanuts' and 'sustainable packag…
ACM
Greenwashing
— Oct 23 '25
Energy-contract telemarketing authorizations
ACM warned that telemarketers selling energy contracts get consumers and small businesses to sign phone 'autho…
ACM
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Oct 21 '25
ANWB
ANWB's radio ad claimed its travel insurance was rated best by Consumentenbond "13 times in a row," a characte…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 20 '25
WBZ: hearing-test sweepstakes inducement challenge
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a hearing-aid and optics retailer's flyer offering a chance to win a prize for …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Oct 20 '25
KPN (missed renewal discounts)
KPN offered renewal discounts to roughly 13,000 broadband and fixed-telephony customers but, due to an interna…
ACM
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 16 '25
Gelijk Geslaagd
Exam-prep company Gelijk Geslaagd's homepage claimed the "highest pass rate" with a trophy graphic spanning 20…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 15 '25
Essent
A sponsored Essent Google result for the search term "terugleverkosten" (solar feed-in costs) read "supplier w…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 14 '25
Zonneplan (and other Dutch energy suppliers)
ACM's annual check of mandatory power-origin disclosure labels found several suppliers hadn't properly substan…
ACM
Greenwashing
— Oct 10 '25
ALD Automotive
AGCM fined ALD EUR5 million for unfair commercial practice, finding it gave consumers incomplete and unclear i…
AGCM
Drip pricing
— Oct 9 '25
BGH: transparent reference-price requirement ruling
The Federal Court of Justice ruled that advertising involving price reductions must state the reference price …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Fake discount / reference price
— Oct 9 '25
WBZ: public-broadcaster chatbot recommendation challenge
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a public-service broadcaster's chatbot for answering audience questions with sp…
Wettbewerbszentrale
AI transparency
— Oct 7 '25
P&G t/a Ariel
P&G's ad for Ariel made a parity claim against a competitor product that the ASA found unsubstantiated, with t…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 1 '25
Groupon Spain
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Groupon over an internet promotion advertising eyelash extensions at €17.49 — per t…
Autocontrol
Fake discount / reference price
— Oct 1 '25
Mahou
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Mahou over an influencer promotion offering 'a year of free beer' — per the case ti…
Autocontrol
Fake discount / reference price
— Oct 1 '25
Betway Limited (Guernsey Branch)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Betway over an internet ad for a 'double bonus up to €200 plus €50 free spins' — pe…
Autocontrol
Drip pricing
— Oct 1 '25
Feversave
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Feversave over an internet ad promising 3-5 business day shipping and 'total peace …
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 1 '25
Sportium Apuestas Digital
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Sportium over an internet ad for a 'double bonus up to €200' — per the case title o…
Autocontrol
Drip pricing
— Oct 1 '25
Spinsy
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Spinsy over an SMS-based promotion offering a recharge bonus and free spins — per t…
Autocontrol
Drip pricing
— Oct 1 '25
News Life Media (Body+Soul)
A Body+Soul lifestyle article by News Life Media named medicinal cannabis as a treatment for anxiety and chron…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$56,340
Oct 1 '25
Opslagplan
ACM warned consumers about Dutch company Opslagplan after hundreds of reports that its telemarketing sales of …
ACM
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Sep 26 '25
Lidl (Lidl Plus app 'free' claim)
The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court rejected a consumer association's claim that Lidl's advertising of its 'Li…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 26 '25
WBZ: car dealer hidden-cost price advertising challenge
Wettbewerbszentrale took action against a number of car dealers for unfair price advertising that concealed ad…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Drip pricing
— Sep 23 '25
Vrijheidsuitgifte.nl
A TV ad offered a "free" silver-plated commemorative coin marking "80 years of freedom" in "very limited editi…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Sep 18 '25
Besured
Insurer Besured's YouTube ad opened with "the lowest car premium in the Netherlands?" -- an absolute pricing s…
RCC
Insurance / warranty claims
— Sep 18 '25
WBZ: veterinary chain new-customer discount ruling
The Berlin Regional Court II, on a Wettbewerbszentrale complaint, prohibited a nationwide veterinary services …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Sep 18 '25
Corendon
Corendon's "how sustainable is Corendon" webpage acknowledged "truly sustainable flight holidays don't exist y…
RCC
Greenwashing
— Sep 16 '25
vanHaren
vanHaren's Facebook post advertised "Sale now everything -50%," but in-store staff said the discount only appl…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Sep 16 '25
Walibi
A Walibi Holland Instagram video promoting "Fright Nights: Souls for Sale" showed a visibly terrified woman wi…
RCC
Other
— Sep 12 '25
De Bijenkorf
Dutch department store De Bijenkorf dropped vague, unsubstantiated claims such as 'Sustainable products' and a…
ACM
Greenwashing
— Sep 11 '25
Tel Sell
Tel Sell's TV infomercial for the Power XL Multicooker advertised "save almost EUR70 off the recommended price…
RCC
Fake discount / reference price
— Sep 10 '25
Snapchat (vape sales to minors)
ACM launched a formal DSA investigation into Snapchat after the Youth Smoking Prevention Foundation alleged th…
ACM
Other
— Sep 9 '25
Amazon (Prime)
Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion ($1 billion penalty plus $1.5 billion in consumer refunds) to settle FTC cha…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$2.5B
Sep 1 '25
Google (Gmail ads + cookies)
CNIL fined Google €325M for inserting ads directly into users' Gmail inboxes without obtaining prior consent, …
CNIL
Privacy / consent
€325M
Sep 1 '25
Shein
CNIL fined Shein €150M for firing advertising cookies before users had given consent, and for a "reject all" c…
CNIL
Privacy / consent
€150M
Sep 1 '25
Affi99 (Prestu)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Affi99 over an internet ad for its 'Prestu' fast-loan product — per the case title …
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
Mutua Madrileña
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Mutua Madrileña over an internet ad guaranteeing a lower insurance price 'whatever …
Autocontrol
Insurance / warranty claims
— Sep 1 '25
Heineken España (Amstel)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Heineken over an influencer ad claiming Amstel is '100% malt' — a composition claim…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
Pablo Chiapella (Amstel influencer)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against influencer Pablo Chiapella over an Amstel promotion claiming the beer is '100% malt…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
Iberdrola
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Iberdrola over an internet ad for its electric-vehicle plan claiming customers save…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
Ernesto Sevilla (Amstel influencer)
AUTOCONTROL ruling against influencer Ernesto Sevilla over an Amstel promotion claiming the beer is '100% malt…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
CaixaBank
AUTOCONTROL ruling against CaixaBank over an internet ad promising fee-free cash withdrawals — per the case ti…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
SuperDinero
AUTOCONTROL ruling against SuperDinero over an internet ad for fast loans ranging €100-€1,000 — per the case t…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
Orange Espagne
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Orange over an internet ad for a football/TV bundle advertised 'from €63/month' — p…
Autocontrol
Drip pricing
— Sep 1 '25
Leads for Finance
AUTOCONTROL ruling against Leads for Finance over an internet ad for online loans advertised as fee-free — per…
Autocontrol
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '25
Mosaic Brands (Noni B, Rivers, Katies)
Mosaic Brands, owner of Noni B, Rivers and Katies, advertised delivery and dispatch timeframes it routinely fa…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$25,000,000
Aug 28 '25
Volkswagen Group Polska
Volkswagen Group Polska settled with UOKiK for almost PLN 74M, confirming its 2020 finding that VW misled cons…
UOKiK
False / unsupported advertising
— Aug 27 '25
San Benedetto (Ecogreen 'zero CO2 impact')
Following AGCM's moral suasion, Acqua Minerale San Benedetto removed "zero CO2 impact" green claims from its E…
AGCM
Greenwashing
— Aug 26 '25
Faillissement Leegverkoop - Ulft
A Facebook page branded "Faillissement Leegverkoop -- Ulft" (Bankruptcy Clearance -- Ulft) advertised an "SOS …
RCC
Fake urgency
— Aug 26 '25
WBZ: unsolicited direct marketing via Microsoft Teams
Wettbewerbszentrale identified a new form of unlawful unsolicited direct marketing sent through Microsoft Team…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Aug 26 '25
Netflix
UOKiK charged Netflix with treating consumers' silence after a fee-increase notice as consent to a higher subs…
UOKiK
Auto-renew / negative option
— Aug 25 '25
WBZ: carsharing minimum-fee price disclosure challenge
Wettbewerbszentrale challenged a well-known carsharing provider's price advertising for not clearly stating a …
Wettbewerbszentrale
Drip pricing
— Aug 19 '25
Blooming Good
A second complaint against Blooming Good's sustainability claims (following related 2024 rulings the company h…
RCC
Greenwashing
— Aug 18 '25
OLG Köln: 'apple leather' dog collar material-claim ruling
The Cologne Higher Regional Court, in preliminary injunction proceedings, banned advertising dog collars as 'A…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Aug 13 '25
Cvneed
After hundreds of complaints that people creating a CV on Cvneed.com were signed up to a recurring EUR35/month…
ACM
Auto-renew / negative option
— Aug 12 '25
BGH: B2B digital coaching program licensing ruling
The Federal Court of Justice clarified that digital coaching programs lacking required distance-learning certi…
Wettbewerbszentrale
Other
— Aug 7 '25
Aasa Polska / CAPITAL Service / Infostom
UOKiK charged lenders Aasa Polska and CAPITAL Service, plus intermediary Infostom, with bundling paid 'value-a…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
— Aug 5 '25
Shein
AGCM fined Infinite Styles Services Co., which manages Shein's European trading sites, EUR1 million for adopti…
AGCM
Greenwashing
— Aug 4 '25
Giorgio Armani (supply-chain ethics claims)
AGCM fined Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and G.A. Operations EUR3.5 million for unfair commercial practice: the compan…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
— Aug 1 '25
Upfront
Upfront's Google and Instagram ads used the taglines "100% Natural Products" and "Upfront stands for 100% tran…
RCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 31 '25
Beautiful
Kefir brand "Beautiful" labeled its "Immunity Kefir Mild" with checkmark claims -- "supports gut flora," "natu…
RCC
Unsupported health claims
— Jul 31 '25
BGH: before/after photos for skin-filler ads ruling
The Federal Court of Justice ruled that advertising dermal filler ('Hautunterspritzungen') treatments using be…
Wettbewerbszentrale
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 31 '25
Allegro / DHL eCommerce / DPD / InPost
UOKiK raised its first greenwashing allegations against Allegro, DHL eCommerce Poland, DPD Polska, and InPost,…
UOKiK
Greenwashing
— Jul 29 '25
Marion
AGCM fined Marion EUR3 million for unfair commercial practice: in its teleshopping broadcasts, the company adv…
AGCM
Fake discount / reference price
— Jul 23 '25
PharmaRx t/a Cloud Pharmacy
PharmaRx, trading as Cloud Pharmacy, ran a Meta ad promoting prescription-only weight-loss medicines directly …
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '25
Play'n GO Malta
Play'n GO Malta's banner ad used cartoon-style creative that the ASA found had strong appeal to under-18s, bre…
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '25
LEBOM Ltd
LEBOM Ltd's gambling ad combined gambling with imagery of excessive drinking, which the ASA found to be a doub…
ASA
Other
— Jul 1 '25
AliExpress (DSA ad/recommender transparency commitments)
AliExpress made binding commitments to the European Commission on DSA ad-repository and recommender-system tra…
European Commission
Undisclosed endorsements
— Jun 18 '25
OLX Group (confusing rating system)
UOKiK issued a decision against OLX Group over OLX.pl's rating system, finding that when non-buyers could leav…
UOKiK
Fake reviews
Decision issued on unfair rating-system practices
Jun 12 '25
Influencer marketing enforcement package
AGCM concluded a package of enforcement actions against multiple influencers and brands for failing to properl…
AGCM
Undisclosed endorsements
€65,000 in fines + commitments accepted in 4 cases
Jun 10 '25
DoorDash
The Bureau filed a Competition Tribunal application against DoorDash and DoorDash Technologies Canada alleging…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
— Jun 9 '25
Match Group (Match.com)
Match Group agreed to pay $14 million to settle FTC charges that Match.com sent notifications suggesting someo…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jun 1 '25
Azagroup (Renee, Born2Be — endless promotions)
UOKiK fined Azagroup, operator of the Renee and Born2Be online stores, almost PLN 15 million for running perpe…
UOKiK
Fake discount / reference price
Nearly PLN 15,000,000 fine
May 27 '25
Canada's Wonderland
The Bureau sued Canada's Wonderland at the Competition Tribunal, alleging its online ticket prices excluded a …
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
— May 5 '25
M&S (model)
M&S's ad used an image of a model the ASA judged to look unhealthily thin, which it found irresponsible on bod…
ASA
Other
— May 1 '25
Shein (CPC consumer-law breach notification)
The CPC network notified Shein of breaches including fake discounts, pressure selling, deceptive product label…
European Commission
Fake discount / reference price
— May 1 '25
Apple (DMA anti-steering fine)
The European Commission issued its first DMA non-compliance decision against Apple, fining it €500 million for…
European Commission
App-store billing evasion
€500 million
Apr 23 '25
Clorox Australia (GLAD)
Clorox Australia labelled certain GLAD bin bags as made from "50% ocean plastic," but the plastic was reported…
ACCC
Greenwashing
AU$8,250,000
Apr 1 '25
Star Stable Online (kid-facing ad pressure and virtual currency)
The CPC network flagged Star Stable Online for ads with direct exhortations to children, time-limited purchase…
European Commission
Fake urgency
— Mar 21 '25
Chajzer, Doda (Rabczewska), Rozenek-Majdan (ad tagging)
UOKiK fined Polish celebrities Chajzer, Doda (Rabczewska), and Rozenek-Majdan almost PLN 500,000 combined for …
UOKiK
Undisclosed endorsements
Fines totalling almost PLN 500,000
Mar 3 '25
Cleo AI
Cleo AI agreed to pay $17 million to settle FTC charges that its cash-advance app overstated how much money us…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$17M
Mar 1 '25
Click Profit
The FTC sued Click Profit and its operators, alleging their "AI-powered" Amazon automation business opportunit…
FTC
AI transparency
$45M
Mar 1 '25
PokerStars
PokerStars' ad trivialised gambling, framed it as a form of investment, and encouraged repetitive play -- all …
ASA
Other
— Mar 1 '25
SteadyPay
SteadyPay's ad encouraged consumers to borrow money specifically to fund Black Friday spending, which the ASA …
ASA
Other
— Feb 1 '25
Gravy Analytics / Venntel
The FTC settled with location-data brokers Gravy Analytics and Venntel over allegations they collected and sol…
FTC
Location data
— Jan 1 '25
General Motors / OnStar
General Motors and OnStar settled FTC charges that they collected detailed driving-behavior data through conne…
FTC
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '25
Cognosphere (Genshin Impact)
Cognosphere, maker of Genshin Impact, agreed to pay $20 million to settle FTC allegations that it violated COP…
FTC
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
$20M
Jan 1 '25
Epik Holdings / (see also GoDaddy)
The FTC settled with domain registrar and hosting provider GoDaddy (in a matter tied to related action against…
FTC
Data security / breach
— Jan 1 '25
accessiBe
AI accessibility-overlay company accessiBe agreed to pay $1 million to settle FTC charges that it falsely clai…
FTC
Undisclosed endorsements
$1M
Jan 1 '25
Workado
The FTC settled with AI-content-detection company Workado over claims that its tool was 98% accurate at identi…
FTC
Speed / performance claims
— Jan 1 '25
Air AI
The FTC took action against Air AI over claims that its AI voice agent could fully replace human customer-serv…
FTC
Earnings claims
— Jan 1 '25
ASA GLP-1 enforcement programme
The ASA's GLP-1 enforcement programme resulted in 18 rulings against 9 advertisers, banning the naming of spec…
ASA
Other
— Jan 1 '25
TikTok (transfers)
Ireland's DPC fined TikTok €530M after finding EEA user data was accessible to staff in China without adequate…
DPC
Privacy / consent
€530M
Jan 1 '25
Optus
Optus sales staff used high-pressure tactics to sell plans and add-ons that vulnerable consumers, including pe…
ACCC
Other
AU$100,000,000
Jan 1 '25
Grill'd
Grill'd promoted "Tree Day Tuesday" as a campaign in which purchases would trigger tree-planting donations, bu…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 1 '25
Vapor Kings
After Vapor Kings Pty Ltd and its director ignored earlier infringement notices over nicotine vape advertising…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$4,900,000 (+ AU$100,000 director)
Jan 1 '25
Medicinal cannabis advertising sweep
In a coordinated sweep, the TGA issued 35 infringement notices totalling $627,252 against six businesses and t…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$627,252
Jan 1 '25
Rogers Communications
The Bureau filed a Tribunal application against Rogers over its 'Infinite' unlimited-data plans, alleging the …
Competition Bureau
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 23 '24
Mobilewalla
The FTC settled with data broker Mobilewalla over allegations it sold sensitive location data and collected co…
FTC
Location data
— Dec 1 '24
IntelliVision
The FTC settled with facial-recognition vendor IntelliVision over claims that its software was highly accurate…
FTC
Algorithmic bias
— Dec 1 '24
Beer52
Beer52's email promotions omitted significant conditions attached to the offers being advertised.
ASA
Other
— Dec 1 '24
Leon's Furniture / The Brick
The Bureau obtained a Federal Court order compelling Leon's Furniture and The Brick to produce records as it i…
Competition Bureau
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 20 '24
Compass Banca (C-646/22)
The CJEU held that the UCPD 'average consumer' is a normative benchmark -- reasonably observant but affected b…
CJEU
Other
— Nov 14 '24
Dave Inc.
The FTC sued cash-advance app Dave Inc., alleging it advertised access to "up to $500" in instant advances tha…
FTC
Drip pricing
$500
Nov 1 '24
Evolv Technologies
The FTC settled with Evolv Technologies over claims that its AI-powered weapons-detection scanners, marketed f…
FTC
AI transparency
— Nov 1 '24
Temu (CPC consumer-law breach notification)
The EU consumer-protection network (CPC) formally notified Temu of breaches including fake discounts, pressure…
European Commission
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 1 '24
Apple Media Services (geo-blocking by residence)
The CPC network opened an ongoing action against Apple Media Services over residence-based discrimination in i…
European Commission
Other
— Nov 1 '24
Webjet
Webjet advertised airfares that excluded compulsory fees from the headline price, and separately sent "confirm…
ACCC
Drip pricing
AU$9,000,000
Nov 1 '24
Lindenapotheke (C-21/23)
The CJEU held that competitors may sue GDPR breaches as unfair commercial practices under national unfair-comp…
CJEU
Privacy / consent
— Oct 4 '24
Marriott
Marriott settled with the FTC and a coalition of states over three major data breaches — including the 2018 St…
FTC
Data security / breach
$52M
Oct 1 '24
Voyager Digital
The FTC settled with crypto platform Voyager Digital over allegations it falsely claimed customer crypto depos…
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
— Oct 1 '24
Qantas
Qantas continued advertising and selling tickets on more than 82,000 flights it had already internally decided…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$100,000,000 (+ ~AU$20,000,000 consumer remediation)
Oct 1 '24
Aldi Süd (C-330/23)
The CJEU held that under Art. 6a of Directive 98/6, an advertised percentage or promotional price reduction mu…
CJEU
Fake discount / reference price
— Sep 26 '24
Cineplex
The Competition Tribunal ruled against Cineplex, finding its $1.50 mandatory online booking fee was deceptive …
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$38.9M + legal costs
Sep 23 '24
DoNotPay
DoNotPay agreed to pay $193,000 to settle FTC charges, part of "Operation AI Comply," that it marketed itself …
FTC
AI transparency
$193k
Sep 1 '24
Ascend Ecom
The FTC sued Ascend Ecom and its operators over a business-opportunity scheme that used "AI-powered" e-commerc…
FTC
AI transparency
— Sep 1 '24
Ecommerce Empire Builders
The FTC took action against Ecommerce Empire Builders for running the same kind of scheme as Ascend Ecom — mar…
FTC
AI transparency
— Sep 1 '24
FBA Machine / Passive Scaling
The FTC sued FBA Machine and Passive Scaling over an Amazon-store automation business opportunity that promise…
FTC
Earnings claims
$15.9M
Sep 1 '24
Sky UK t/a NOW
Sky UK, trading as NOW, automatically added free trials to customers' baskets and failed to make the auto-rene…
ASA
Sneak into basket
— Sep 1 '24
Mobee Co t/a Ignite Classic Slots
Mobee Co, trading as Ignite Classic Slots, ran TikTok ads for its social-casino app that implied players could…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Sep 1 '24
Care.com
Care.com agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle FTC charges that it advertised inflated job listings and wage fi…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$8.5M
Aug 1 '24
Verkada
Verkada agreed to pay $2.95 million to settle FTC charges tied to security-camera failures — including a breac…
FTC
Data security / breach
$2.95M
Aug 1 '24
TikTok Lite (Task and Reward programme withdrawal)
After DSA proceedings in France and Spain over TikTok Lite's watch-to-earn 'Task and Reward' programme, TikTok…
European Commission
Other
— Aug 1 '24
Viagogo (countdown pressure and seller-status transparency)
Viagogo committed to the CPC network by August 2024 to address excessive countdown-timer pressure, unclear tra…
European Commission
Fake urgency
— Aug 1 '24
Best-Review / SeoSem24 (sale of fake reviews)
UOKiK ordered Best-Review to pay PLN 35,000 and fined SeoSem24 PLN 50,618 for selling fabricated online review…
UOKiK
Fake reviews
Best-Review PLN 35,000; SeoSem24 PLN 50,618
Jul 30 '24
Chiara Ferragni companies (Easter-egg charity marketing)
Following the pandoro case, AGCM closed a parallel investigation into Chiara Ferragni's Easter-egg charity mar…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
€1,200,000 commitment payment
Jul 5 '24
NGL Labs
NGL Labs agreed to pay $5 million and was banned from marketing its anonymous-messaging app to minors after th…
FTC
Deepfake / synthetic media
$5M
Jul 1 '24
Sky UK t/a NOW
Sky UK, trading as NOW, advertised its 'basic' streaming plan without disclosing that it included advertising …
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 1 '24
Simmer Ltd
Simmer Ltd's paid social ad used an endorsement that was fake or misattributed to someone who hadn't actually …
ASA
Undisclosed endorsements
— Jul 1 '24
Amazon
The Bureau obtained a second Federal Court order compelling Amazon to produce information as part of its ongoi…
Competition Bureau
Fake reviews
— Jun 12 '24
Sirius XM Canada
Sirius XM Canada signed a consent agreement to pay a $3.3M penalty after the Bureau found its subscription pri…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$3.3M
Jun 5 '24
Adobe (+2 executives)
The FTC and DOJ sued Adobe and two of its executives, alleging the company buried a steep early-termination fe…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jun 1 '24
PayPal (consumer terms rewritten)
PayPal rewrote its consumer-facing terms, effective 28 May 2024, after CPC scrutiny of opaque legalese and lia…
European Commission
Other
— May 28 '24
Five online stores (fake 'was/now' discounts)
ACM fined five online retailers a combined €621,000 — Day Trayders/koopjedeal.nl, Leen Bakker, G-Star, JYSK, a…
ACM
Fake discount / reference price
€621,000 total (Day Trayders/koopjedeal.nl €163,000; Leen Bakker €130,000; G-Star €110,000; JYSK €112,500; Tommy Hilfiger €105,500)
May 2 '24
Festival Free Bets (Astrid Wett)
Festival Free Bets' ad featured influencer Astrid Wett, who was under 25, gambling or playing a significant ro…
ASA
Undisclosed endorsements
— May 1 '24
Amazon (pre-selected purchase options)
AGCM fined Amazon €10 million for unfair commercial practices involving pre-selected purchase options and defa…
AGCM
Sneak into basket
€10,000,000 fine
Apr 24 '24
Cerebral
Cerebral agreed to pay $7 million to settle FTC charges that the telehealth mental-health provider shared sens…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$7M
Apr 1 '24
Williams-Sonoma
Williams-Sonoma agreed to pay $3.17 million to settle FTC charges that it repeated Made-in-USA violations afte…
FTC
Made-in / origin claims
$3.17M
Apr 1 '24
Tinder (undisclosed personalised pricing)
Tinder committed to the CPC network to disclose its use of automated personalised pricing and age-based pricin…
European Commission
Personal attribute targeting
— Apr 1 '24
Amazon EU Sarl (availability/countdown-timer dark patterns)
UOKiK fined Amazon EU Sarl over PLN 31.8 million for misleading product availability and delivery information …
UOKiK
Fake urgency
PLN 31,850,141 fine
Mar 27 '24
TikTok ('French scar' challenge)
AGCM sanctioned TikTok over the algorithmic amplification of the dangerous 'French scar' challenge to minors, …
AGCM
Other
Sanction imposed (investigation opened 21 Mar 2023)
Mar 14 '24
IAB Europe (C-604/22)
The CJEU held that the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework's TC String is personal data, and that IAB …
CJEU
Privacy / consent
— Mar 7 '24
LeoVegas t/a BetUK
LeoVegas, trading as BetUK, ran a radio ad featuring former footballer Adebayo Akinfenwa, which the ASA found …
ASA
Other
— Mar 1 '24
BAT Italia + Amazon (Glo Hyper X2 / Hyper Air)
AGCM fined BAT Italia and Amazon a combined €7 million for misleading advertising of the Glo Hyper X2 and Hype…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
€7,000,000 total fine
Feb 14 '24
EU influencer marketing sweep
An EU-wide CPC sweep of 576 influencers found 97% posted commercial content but only 20% systematically disclo…
European Commission
Undisclosed endorsements
— Feb 14 '24
Avast
Avast agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle FTC charges that its antivirus and privacy software collected and …
FTC
Privacy / consent
$16.5M
Feb 1 '24
Blackbaud
Blackbaud settled with the FTC following a ransomware breach, with the order requiring the company to delete p…
FTC
Data security / breach
— Feb 1 '24
H&R Block
H&R Block agreed to pay $7 million to settle FTC charges that it advertised "free" tax filing when many consum…
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
$7M
Feb 1 '24
FloatMe
FloatMe agreed to pay $3 million to settle FTC charges that it overstated the "free money" cash advances users…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$3M
Jan 1 '24
Qargo Coffee
The FTC sued Qargo Coffee under the Franchise Rule for failing to disclose material facts about its founders' …
FTC
Franchise disclosure
— Jan 1 '24
X-Mode Social / Outlogic
The FTC settled with data broker X-Mode Social (later Outlogic) in the agency's first-ever ban on selling sens…
FTC
Sensitive data in ads
— Jan 1 '24
Intuit (TurboTax)
Intuit (TurboTax) was found to have deceptively advertised "free" tax filing when a majority of filers did not…
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
$141M
Jan 1 '24
Kubota
Kubota agreed to pay $2 million — the largest Made-in-USA penalty on record at the time — to settle FTC charge…
FTC
Made-in / origin claims
$2M
Jan 1 '24
Team RH Fitness
Team RH Fitness's TikTok ad did not disclose that signing up required a 12-month minimum contract term.
ASA
Other
— Jan 1 '24
EDPB Opinion 08/2024 (consent-or-pay)
The EDPB's Opinion 08/2024 concluded that large online platforms using a "consent or pay" model generally must…
EDPB
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '24
Vinted (hidden buyer-protection fee)
Following a CPC dialogue opened in December 2021, Vinted implemented changes to disclose its 'buyer protection…
European Commission
Drip pricing
— Jan 1 '24
Dendy Cinemas
Dendy Cinemas charged per-ticket booking fees that were only revealed late in the checkout process rather than…
ACCC
Drip pricing
— Jan 1 '24
Dispensed
Dispensed Pty Ltd was issued infringement notices and a binding "direction about advertisements" over its medi…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 1 '24
Montu Group / Alternaleaf
The TGA initiated Federal Court civil penalty proceedings against Montu Group, its Alternaleaf cannabis-clinic…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 1 '24
Chiara Ferragni cos. + Balocco (Pandoro charity claims)
AGCM fined Chiara Ferragni's companies and cake maker Balocco a combined total of over €1.42 million for the '…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
€1,000,000+ (Ferragni cos.) + €420,000 (Balocco)
Dec 15 '23
Amp Me Inc.
Amp Me, maker of a music-syncing app, settled Bureau concerns that it paid for fake positive reviews and adver…
Competition Bureau
Fake reviews
CA$1.5M penalty (CA$310K payable on hardship terms) + CA$40K costs
Dec 5 '23
Rogers Communications
The Bureau obtained an earlier Federal Court order compelling Rogers to produce records as part of its investi…
Competition Bureau
False / unsupported advertising
— Dec 4 '23
Rite Aid
Rite Aid agreed to a five-year ban on using facial-recognition technology in its stores after the FTC alleged …
FTC
Algorithmic bias
— Dec 1 '23
Australian Gas Networks
Australian Gas Networks ran a marketing campaign describing gas supply as becoming "renewable," a future-state…
ACCC
Greenwashing
— Dec 1 '23
TicketNetwork
Ticket-resale platform TicketNetwork agreed to pay an $825,000 penalty and to stop the deceptive pricing pract…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$825,000
Nov 21 '23
eBilet (drip pricing)
UOKiK issued two decisions against ticketing site eBilet — a commitment requiring mandatory fees to be shown i…
UOKiK
Drip pricing
Commitment (fee shown in minimum price, refunds) + PLN 1,325,880 fine
Nov 16 '23
Brigit (Bridge It)
Brigit (Bridge It) agreed to pay $18 million to settle FTC charges that its cash-advance app advertised "up to…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$18M
Nov 1 '23
Global Tel*Link
Global Tel*Link settled with the FTC over a data breach affecting users of its prison-communication services, …
FTC
Data security / breach
— Nov 1 '23
P&G t/a Always
P&G's ad for Always compared its product against one that wasn't the appropriate leading competitor product, a…
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Nov 1 '23
Sofatutor (C-565/22)
The CJEU held that a free trial converting into a paid auto-renewing subscription carries only one right of wi…
CJEU
Auto-renew / negative option
— Oct 5 '23
Natural Pharmaceuticals (free-sample subscription trap)
UOKiK fined Natural Pharmaceuticals over PLN 5.19 million, plus a personal sanction on its manager, for 'free …
UOKiK
Auto-renew / negative option
PLN 5,196,840 fine + sanction on company manager
Sep 27 '23
The Dufresne Group
Furniture retailer The Dufresne Group settled Bureau concerns over false 'regular price' comparisons and manuf…
Competition Bureau
Fake discount / reference price
CA$3.25M + CA$100K costs
Sep 27 '23
Bigotka.pl / Arkadie.pl (false countdown meter)
UOKiK fined Bigotka.pl and Arkadie.pl over PLN 100,000 for a daily-resetting 'offer ends in...' countdown mete…
UOKiK
Fake urgency
Fines over PLN 100,000
Sep 18 '23
TikTok (children)
Ireland's DPC fined TikTok €345M for setting child users' accounts to public by default and for account-settin…
DPC
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
€345M
Sep 1 '23
Olimp Laboratories + three fitness influencers
UOKiK fined supplement maker Olimp Laboratories and three fitness influencers a combined total of over PLN 5 m…
UOKiK
Undisclosed endorsements
Fines totalling over PLN 5,000,000
Aug 28 '23
eToro
AGCM fined trading platform eToro €1.3 million for misleading advertising that promoted 'zero commission' trad…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
€1,300,000 fine
Jul 17 '23
Publishers Clearing House
Publishers Clearing House agreed to pay $18.5 million to settle FTC charges that its marketing implied a purch…
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
$18.5M
Jun 1 '23
1Health.io / Vitagene
1Health.io (Vitagene) settled with the FTC over allegations it retroactively changed its privacy policy to all…
FTC
Privacy / consent
— Jun 1 '23
Microsoft (Xbox)
Microsoft agreed to pay $20 million to settle FTC charges that its Xbox child-account signup process violated …
FTC
Privacy / consent
$20M
Jun 1 '23
Procter & Gamble (IPL device)
Procter & Gamble's ad for its IPL hair removal device claimed 'permanent' hair removal, a claim the ASA found …
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 1 '23
Shell
Shell's ad overstated the share of its business represented by renewable energy relative to its actual overall…
ASA
Greenwashing
— Jun 1 '23
Terry Croteau
Terry Croteau was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.28M in restitution for running a dece…
Competition Bureau
False / unsupported advertising
CA$1.28M restitution + 30 months imprisonment
Jun 1 '23
Cineplex
The Bureau filed a Competition Tribunal application against Cineplex alleging its online movie ticket prices w…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
— May 18 '23
Amazon (Alexa kids)
Amazon agreed to pay $25 million to settle FTC charges that it kept children's Alexa voice recordings and geol…
FTC
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
$25M
May 1 '23
Easy Healthcare (Premom)
Easy Healthcare agreed to pay $200,000 to settle FTC charges that its Premom ovulation-tracking app shared use…
FTC
Sensitive data in ads
$200k
May 1 '23
Ring (Amazon)
Ring (Amazon) agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle FTC charges that it gave broad, poorly monitored employee a…
FTC
Data security / breach
$5.8M
May 1 '23
Edmodo
Ed-tech platform Edmodo, used by schools for classroom management, collected children's personal information a…
FTC
Privacy / consent
— May 1 '23
Sky UK (fibre)
Sky UK's ad for its fibre broadband exaggerated the broadband and Wi-Fi performance customers could expect to …
ASA
Speed / performance claims
— May 1 '23
Eaton Gate Gaming t/a Kwiff
Eaton Gate Gaming, trading as Kwiff, placed a gambling ad on a football club's website in a way the ASA found …
ASA
Other
— May 1 '23
InstantScripts
Telehealth platform InstantScripts was fined $742,500 across 45 infringement notices in May 2023 for allegedly…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$742,500
May 1 '23
BetterHelp
Online therapy platform BetterHelp shared users' sensitive mental-health intake information, including indicat…
FTC
Sensitive data in ads
$7.8M
Mar 1 '23
Lufthansa
Lufthansa's 'protecting the future' environmental claim was found by the ASA to be unsubstantiated.
ASA
Greenwashing
— Mar 1 '23
GoodRx
Prescription discount platform GoodRx shared users' personal health information -- including medications and h…
FTC
Sensitive data in ads
$1.5M
Feb 1 '23
The Bountiful Company
Supplement maker The Bountiful Company engaged in "review hijacking" -- merging new product listings on Amazon…
FTC
Fake reviews
$600k
Feb 1 '23
Yoox
AGCM fined fashion e-commerce site Yoox over €5 million for misleading reference-price discount claims combine…
AGCM
Fake discount / reference price
€5,000,000+ fine
Jan 13 '23
Chargebacks911
Chargeback-mitigation vendor Chargebacks911 helped subscription merchants illegitimately defeat cardholders' c…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jan 1 '23
WealthPress
Financial newsletter publisher WealthPress advertised its trading-strategy subscriptions with fabricated or ex…
FTC
Earnings claims
$1.7M
Jan 1 '23
HomeAdvisor/Angi
Home-services marketplace HomeAdvisor (now Angi) misrepresented to contractors the quality of the sales leads …
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
$7.2M
Jan 1 '23
Wowcher
Wowcher's countdown timers and 'running low' urgency messaging were not tied to genuine scarcity or a real dea…
CMA
Fake urgency
— Jan 1 '23
Etihad
Etihad's 'sustainable aviation' claim had no basis the ASA could identify, and the claim was found misleading.
ASA
Greenwashing
— Jan 1 '23
EDPB Cookie Banner Taskforce report
The EDPB's Cookie Banner Taskforce report set common enforcement standards across the EU, confirming that a ba…
EDPB
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '23
Criteo
CNIL fined ad-tech intermediary Criteo €40M for failing to verify that valid consent had actually been obtaine…
CNIL
Privacy / consent
€40M
Jan 1 '23
EDPB Art. 5(3) ePrivacy guidelines
The EDPB's guidelines on Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive confirmed that consent requirements aren't lim…
EDPB
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '23
ICO cookie-banner crackdown
The ICO sent warning letters to many of the UK's most-visited websites over non-compliant cookie banners, reit…
ICO (UK)
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '23
Google (Store/Play/Hotels/Flights commitments)
Google committed to the CPC network on reference prices for discounts, disclosure of unverified reviews, and b…
European Commission
Fake discount / reference price
— Jan 1 '23
WhatsApp (terms-of-service update pressure)
WhatsApp committed to the CPC network to make the option to reject terms-of-service updates as prominent as th…
European Commission
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '23
EU dark-patterns sweep of retail websites and apps
A CPC sweep of 399 retail websites and apps published in January 2023 found roughly 148 (about 4 in 10) showed…
European Commission
Fake urgency
— Jan 1 '23
Airbnb
Airbnb displayed prices to roughly 70,000 Australian users using an unqualified "$" symbol that was actually U…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$15,000,000 (+ up to AU$15,000,000 compensation)
Jan 1 '23
Booktopia
Booktopia's website terms stated that customers had to notify the company within two business days to claim a …
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$6,000,000
Jan 1 '23
Dell Australia
Dell Australia advertised "was/now" strikethrough pricing on add-on monitors where the higher "was" price was …
ACCC
Fake discount / reference price
AU$10,000,000
Jan 1 '23
Myers Pharmacy
Myers Pharmacy displayed in-store advertising naming Ozempic, a prescription-only GLP-1 medicine, in a shop-wi…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$18,780
Jan 1 '23
Kilpatrick & Douglas
Kilpatrick & Douglas Pty Ltd and two of its directors were fined $157,752 across 18 infringement notices for a…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$157,752
Jan 1 '23
Heartbeat International
Ad Standards upheld a complaint against a Heartbeat International billboard claiming a fetus is 'Already Kicki…
Ad Standards Canada
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 1 '23
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Brockville
Ad Standards upheld a complaint that the hotel's social-media photos showed a hot tub amenity that had since b…
Ad Standards Canada
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 1 '23
Spocket
Ad Standards upheld a complaint against Spocket's '14-day free trial, cancel anytime' messaging, finding it mi…
Ad Standards Canada
Auto-renew / negative option
— Jan 1 '23
International Auction
Ad Standards upheld a complaint against an International Auction flyer claiming to pay the 'highest cash price…
Ad Standards Canada
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 1 '23
Home Hardware Stores
Ad Standards upheld a complaint against Home Hardware for advertising inventory availability for a specific br…
Ad Standards Canada
False / unsupported advertising
— Jan 1 '23
Nautilus Family Chiropractic
Ad Standards upheld a complaint against Nautilus Family Chiropractic's before/after x-ray ad claiming a patien…
Ad Standards Canada
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 1 '23
Healing Hollow
Ad Standards upheld a complaint against Healing Hollow for essential-oil marketing that included disease-treat…
Ad Standards Canada
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 1 '23
TrendX (fake reviews)
ACM fined online store TrendX €100,000 for posting fake positive reviews while deliberately not publishing gen…
ACM
Fake reviews
€100,000 fine
Dec 9 '22
Epic Games (Fortnite)
Epic Games agreed to pay $520M total -- a $275M COPPA penalty for collecting children's data without parental …
FTC
Privacy / consent
$520M
Dec 1 '22
Vinted
AGCM fined C2C marketplace Vinted €1.5 million for advertising 'free' or fee-light selling while not prominent…
AGCM
Drip pricing
€1,500,000 fine
Nov 10 '22
Vonage
VoIP provider Vonage made canceling a subscription possible only by speaking to a live retention agent on a ha…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$100M
Nov 1 '22
Dufresne Furniture
The Bureau obtained a Federal Court order compelling Dufresne Furniture to produce records as it investigated …
Competition Bureau
Fake discount / reference price
— Nov 1 '22
Chegg
Ed-tech company Chegg suffered four separate data breaches exposing sensitive student and employee information…
FTC
Data security / breach
— Oct 1 '22
Drizly (+CEO personally)
After a data breach exposed the personal information of roughly 2.5 million Drizly customers, the FTC's order …
FTC
Data security / breach
— Oct 1 '22
HSBC
HSBC's green advertising highlighted its climate financing without disclosing its far larger financed emission…
ASA
Greenwashing
— Oct 1 '22
Shopify (compliance-by-design for hosted scam stores)
Shopify committed to the CPC network to build in notice-and-action tooling for scam stores and mandatory trade…
European Commission
Fake urgency
— Oct 1 '22
Credit Karma
Credit Karma told users they were "pre-approved" for credit card offers with "90% odds" of approval when many …
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
$3M
Sep 1 '22
Kochava
Data broker Kochava sold streams of precise, timestamped geolocation data that could be used to trace people's…
FTC
Location data
— Aug 1 '22
Benefytt (Simple Health)
Benefytt Technologies (operating as Simple Health and other brands) marketed limited-benefit indemnity and dis…
FTC
Insurance / warranty claims
$100M
Aug 1 '22
Roomster
Roommate-finder platform Roomster paid for tens of thousands of fake five-star reviews on app stores to boost …
FTC
Fake reviews
— Aug 1 '22
American Golf t/a Onlinegolf
American Golf, trading as Onlinegolf, advertised a 'free trial' that hid the fact a paid subscription was requ…
ASA
Auto-renew / negative option
— Aug 1 '22
PlanetArt t/a FreePrints
PlanetArt, trading as FreePrints, advertised 'free prints' without disclosing that customers still had to pay …
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— Aug 1 '22
Coral (LC International)
Coral's TV ad, from LC International, portrayed gambling in a way the ASA found socially irresponsible.
ASA
Other
— Aug 1 '22
Rank Digital Gaming
Rank Digital Gaming's in-app ad framed gambling as a way to solve financial worries, which the ASA found irres…
ASA
Other
— Aug 1 '22
Google LLC
Google told Android users that turning off "Location History" stopped Google collecting their location, withou…
ACCC
Location data
AU$60,000,000
Aug 1 '22
First American Payment Systems
Payment processor First American Payment Systems, working through independent sales agents, signed small busin…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$4.9M
Jul 1 '22
Amazon Prime (cancellation flow simplification)
Amazon committed to the CPC network to simplify Prime cancellation to a 'two clicks' flow and remove deterring…
European Commission
Dark-pattern cancellation
— Jul 1 '22
Paddy Power
Paddy Power's ad depicted gambling being prioritised over family commitments and encouraged repetitive play.
ASA
Other
— Jun 1 '22
Tesco (Plant Chef)
Tesco's environmental benefit claims for its Plant Chef burger were found unsubstantiated by the ASA.
ASA
Greenwashing
— Jun 1 '22
TikTok (CPC advertising-practices commitments)
TikTok made CPC-network commitments to fix hidden marketing, aggressive advertising targeting children, and mi…
European Commission
Undisclosed endorsements
— Jun 1 '22
Samsung
Samsung's Galaxy phone advertising depicted devices being used in swimming pools and the ocean, despite salt w…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$14,000,000
Jun 1 '22
Victorinox (C-179/21)
The CJEU held that a trader must inform consumers about the producer's commercial guarantee pre-contract where…
CJEU
Insurance / warranty claims
— May 5 '22
Frontier Communications
Internet provider Frontier Communications advertised broadband speeds that its network was often incapable of …
FTC
Speed / performance claims
$8.5M
May 1 '22
Bier Company
Bier Company sent emails and texts falsely telling recipients they had won 'free beer for life', when no such …
ASA
False / unsupported advertising
— May 1 '22
Tesco Mobile
A Tesco Mobile ad implied expletive language, which the ASA found caused offence given its placement, and uphe…
ASA
Other
— May 1 '22
NuvoCare Health Sciences
NuvoCare Health Sciences settled Bureau concerns over unsupported weight-loss claims for its supplements, agre…
Competition Bureau
Unsupported health claims
CA$100,000
Apr 27 '22
Surfshark
Surfshark's VPN ad used fear- and distress-inducing messaging about online security threats without adequate j…
ASA
Other
— Apr 1 '22
Trivago
Trivago told users its algorithm surfaced the cheapest available hotel rate, but the top-ranked "deal" was act…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$44,700,000
Apr 1 '22
CafePress
Custom-merchandise site CafePress suffered a data breach exposing millions of customers' Social Security numbe…
FTC
Data security / breach
$500k
Mar 1 '22
Floki Inu
Floki Inu's TfL ads used 'Missed Doge? Get Floki' messaging that played on fear of missing out and encouraged …
ASA
Other
— Mar 1 '22
Tiketa (C-536/20)
The CJEU held that an intermediary selling on behalf of another trader can itself be liable as a 'trader' for …
CJEU
Other
— Feb 24 '22
Kurbo by WW
WW (Weight Watchers) subsidiary Kurbo marketed a weight-loss and calorie-tracking app to children as young as …
FTC
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
$1.5M
Feb 1 '22
American Vehicle Protection
American Vehicle Protection made unsolicited robocalls pitching vehicle service contracts as manufacturer-back…
FTC
Insurance / warranty claims
— Feb 1 '22
Innocent Drinks
Innocent Drinks' ad implied that buying its product helped the environment, a claim the ASA found unsubstantia…
ASA
Greenwashing
— Feb 1 '22
Keurig Canada
Keurig Canada settled Bureau concerns that its coffee-pod 'recyclable' claims were misleading because the pods…
Competition Bureau
Greenwashing
CA$3M + CA$800K donation + CA$500K costs
Jan 6 '22
Lions Not Sheep
Apparel brand Lions Not Sheep removed "Made in China" tags from imported clothing and replaced them with "Made…
FTC
Made-in / origin claims
— Jan 1 '22
Fashion Nova (reviews)
Fashion Nova automatically blocked publication of product reviews rated below four stars for years, showing on…
FTC
Fake reviews
$4.2M
Jan 1 '22
Emma Sleep
Emma Sleep used urgency countdown timers and reference/'was' pricing that the CMA found misleading; the compan…
CMA
Fake urgency
— Jan 1 '22
Oatly
Oatly's ad used selectively chosen climate statistics that the ASA found created a misleading overall impressi…
ASA
Greenwashing
— Jan 1 '22
AliExpress and Wish (CPC price-transparency commitments)
AliExpress and Wish committed to the CPC network on price transparency and the authenticity of discount interf…
European Commission
Fake discount / reference price
— Jan 1 '22
EnergyAustralia
EnergyAustralia made pricing statements and comparisons that did not follow the reference-price framing mandat…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$14,000,000
Jan 1 '22
Uber
Uber's app displayed cancellation-fee warnings to riders in situations where no fee would actually be charged,…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$21,000,000
Jan 1 '22
Nicotine vaping advertiser (individual)
An individual was fined for advertising disposable nicotine vaping products, a prescription-only therapeutic g…
TGA
Unsupported health claims
AU$31,698
Jan 1 '22
NuvoCare Health Sciences
The Bureau obtained a court order to advance its investigation into NuvoCare's weight-loss claims, a step that…
Competition Bureau
Unsupported health claims
— Jan 1 '22
OpenX
Ad exchange OpenX knowingly collected personal data, including precise location, from users of child-directed …
FTC
Privacy / consent
$2M
Dec 1 '21
Arsenal FC (fan tokens)
Arsenal FC's ad for crypto 'fan tokens' failed to communicate the investment risk involved and trivialised wha…
ASA
Other
— Dec 1 '21
Google and Apple (commercial use of user data)
AGCM fined Google and Apple €10 million each for presenting data collection as a user benefit without adequate…
AGCM
Privacy / consent
€10,000,000 each (€20,000,000 total)
Nov 26 '21
StWL / eprimo -- inbox advertising (C-102/20)
The CJEU held that ads displayed inside an email inbox ('inbox advertising') constitute direct marketing email…
CJEU
Privacy / consent
— Nov 25 '21
Cazoo
A complaint against Cazoo's money-back-guarantee wording was not upheld; the ASA found the wording clear enoug…
ASA
Other
— Nov 1 '21
Notice of Penalty Offenses — Endorsements
The FTC sent Notices of Penalty Offenses to more than 700 companies, warning that using fake, paid-for, or unr…
FTC
Undisclosed endorsements
— Oct 1 '21
Notice of Penalty Offenses — Money-Making Opportunities
The FTC sent Notices of Penalty Offenses to more than 1,100 companies marketing money-making or business oppor…
FTC
Earnings claims
— Oct 1 '21
A&S Leisure (casino)
A&S Leisure's casino ad implied gambling could take place without limits or restrictions, a socially irrespons…
ASA
Other
— Oct 1 '21
Peek & Cloppenburg (C-371/20)
The CJEU held that an advertorial is 'paid for' under UCPD Annex I point 11 (hidden advertising in editorial c…
CJEU
Undisclosed endorsements
— Sep 2 '21
SpyFone
Stalkerware maker SpyFone sold apps that let purchasers secretly monitor another person's calls, texts, locati…
FTC
Surveillance / stalkerware
— Sep 1 '21
Canada Tax Reviews
The Bureau obtained a Federal Court order compelling Canada Tax Reviews to produce records regarding its marke…
Competition Bureau
False / unsupported advertising
— Jul 9 '21
LendingClub
Online lender LendingClub advertised personal loans with the promise of "no hidden fees," while actually deduc…
FTC
Drip pricing
$18M
Jul 1 '21
MoviePass
MoviePass blocked paying subscribers from using the unlimited-movie service it had advertised -- invalidating …
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
— Jun 1 '21
BAT + influencers (hidden advertising)
AGCM opened an investigation into British American Tobacco and a network of influencers over hidden advertisin…
AGCM
Undisclosed endorsements
Investigation opened
May 31 '21
Luno
Luno's 'time to buy Bitcoin' ad was found irresponsible for failing to flag the risk and volatility of cryptoc…
ASA
Other
— May 1 '21
Warrior Trading
Day-trading education company Warrior Trading advertised specific dollar-earnings and win-rate claims for its …
FTC
Earnings claims
$3M
Apr 1 '21
Eric Nepute / Quickwork
Chiropractor Eric Nepute and his company Quickwork marketed vitamin D and zinc supplements with claims they co…
FTC
Unsupported health claims
— Apr 1 '21
Parship (auto-renewal and withdrawal disclosure)
Dating site Parship committed to the CPC network to disclose auto-renewal terms and withdrawal-right informati…
European Commission
Auto-renew / negative option
— Apr 1 '21
FlightHub
Online travel agency FlightHub and two of its directors settled Bureau concerns over hidden mandatory fees, fa…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$5.8M total (CA$5M company + CA$400K x2 directors)
Feb 24 '21
Flo Health
Period- and fertility-tracking app Flo Health told users it would keep their health information private, but e…
FTC
Sensitive data in ads
— Jan 1 '21
Everalbum (Ever)
Photo-storage app Everalbum (Ever) used customers' uploaded photos to train facial-recognition technology with…
FTC
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '21
Rejuvica / other supplement sellers
Supplement seller Rejuvica and several other companies operated ostensibly independent review or ranking websi…
FTC
Undisclosed endorsements
— Jan 1 '21
Ladbrokes (LC International)
Ladbrokes, via LC International, ran an ad depicting problem-gambling behaviours such as preoccupation with be…
ASA
Other
— Jan 1 '21
Google (cookies)
CNIL fined Google €150M (and Facebook €60M the same day) after finding that its cookie banner made "reject" ha…
CNIL
Privacy / consent
€150M
Jan 1 '21
Amazon Europe
Luxembourg's CNPD fined Amazon Europe €746M, the largest GDPR ad-consent fine of its era, for running targeted…
CNPD (Lux)
Privacy / consent
€746M
Jan 1 '21
WhatsApp
Ireland's DPC fined WhatsApp €225M for transparency failures in its privacy notices, finding that users weren'…
DPC (IE)
Privacy / consent
€225M
Jan 1 '21
Grindr
Norway's Datatilsynet fined Grindr ~€6.3M for sharing user data with ad-tech partners for targeted advertising…
Datatilsynet (NO)
Privacy / consent
~€6.3M
Jan 1 '21
Employsure
Employsure ran Google Ads using phrases like "Fair Work Help" that appeared when people searched for genuine g…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$3,000,000
Jan 1 '21
Klarna
Klarna's influencer posts framed its buy-now-pay-later credit product as a mood-boosting purchase, which the A…
ASA
Undisclosed endorsements
— Dec 1 '20
Orange Romania (C-61/19)
The CJEU held that consent recorded via a clause or ticked box prepared by the trader is invalid where the arr…
CJEU
Privacy / consent
— Nov 11 '20
Zoom
Video-conferencing provider Zoom claimed for years that meetings were protected by end-to-end encryption, when…
FTC
False / unsupported advertising
— Nov 1 '20
Apple (iPhone water-resistance claims)
AGCM fined Apple €10 million for misleading iPhone water-resistance claims that didn't reflect real-world limi…
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
€10,000,000 fine
Nov 1 '20
Age of Learning (ABCmouse)
Ed-tech company Age of Learning advertised its ABCmouse subscription as offering "easy cancellation," but the …
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$10M
Sep 1 '20
NutraClick
NutraClick enrolled consumers who ordered "free trial" supplement and beauty products into recurring negative-…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$1.04M
Sep 1 '20
Golden Sunrise Nutraceutical
Golden Sunrise Nutraceutical marketed a "treatment plan" of supplements as able to prevent or treat COVID-19, …
FTC
Unsupported health claims
$54k
Jul 1 '20
Facebook (Meta)
Facebook settled Bureau concerns that its marketing overstated how well it protected users' personal data, agr…
Competition Bureau
Privacy / consent
CA$9M + CA$500K costs
May 19 '20
Teami
Detox-tea brand Teami made unsupported health claims, including weight loss and cancer prevention, and paid so…
FTC
Unsupported health claims
$1M
Mar 1 '20
StubHub
StubHub settled Bureau concerns that mandatory fees added late in checkout made its advertised event-ticket pr…
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$1.3M
Feb 13 '20
RagingBull.com
Trading-education company RagingBull.com advertised inflated and unsubstantiated earnings claims for its stock…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$2.4M
Jan 1 '20
LendEDU
Financial-comparison site LendEDU represented its product rankings and "best of" lists as objective and indepe…
FTC
Fake reviews
— Jan 1 '20
iSelect
iSelect marketed its energy comparison tool as covering the market broadly, but its commercial agreements with…
ACCC
False / unsupported advertising
AU$8,500,000
Jan 1 '20
Service Seeking
Service Seeking's "Fast Feedback" feature let businesses draft their own customer reviews from a template, whi…
ACCC
Fake reviews
AU$600,000
Jan 1 '20
Mosaic Brands
During the early COVID-19 period, retailer Mosaic Brands advertised hand-sanitiser alcohol percentages and mas…
ACCC
Unsupported health claims
AU$630,000
Jan 1 '20
AT&T (data throttling)
AT&T advertised "unlimited" mobile data plans but secretly throttled speeds for its heaviest users after they …
FTC
Speed / performance claims
$60M
Nov 1 '19
Four car-offer companies ('at no cost' promotions)
AGCM fined four car-offer companies a combined €1.6 million for headline 'at no cost' promotions that in fact …
AGCM
False / unsupported advertising
€1,600,000 fine
Nov 1 '19
Sunday Riley
Skincare brand Sunday Riley's CEO directed employees to post fake five-star reviews of the company's products …
FTC
Fake reviews
— Oct 1 '19
Devumi
Devumi sold millions of fake social-media followers, subscribers, likes, and views to customers looking to inf…
FTC
Fake reviews
— Oct 1 '19
Google/YouTube
Google and YouTube served behaviorally targeted ads based on tracking children's viewing activity on YouTube c…
FTC
Kids' privacy (COPPA)
$170M
Sep 1 '19
Fashion ID (C-40/17)
The CJEU held that a website operator embedding a Facebook 'Like' button is a joint controller for the collect…
CJEU
Privacy / consent
— Jul 29 '19
Equifax
Credit reporting agency Equifax suffered a massive data breach exposing the Social Security numbers and other …
FTC
Data security / breach
$700M
Jul 1 '19
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster settled Bureau concerns over misleading drip pricing on event tickets, agreeing to a $4M penalty …
Competition Bureau
Drip pricing
CA$4.5M (CA$4M penalty + CA$500K costs)
Jun 27 '19
Orange Polska (C-628/17)
The CJEU held that requiring consumers to sign contracts in a courier's presence is not per se an aggressive p…
CJEU
Fake urgency
— Jun 12 '19
Hudson's Bay
Hudson's Bay settled Bureau concerns that its 'regular price' comparisons on sleep sets were deceptive because…
Competition Bureau
Fake discount / reference price
CA$4.5M (CA$4M penalty + CA$500K costs)
May 8 '19
Buy&Share group-purchase sites (six operators)
AGCM fined six group-purchase site operators over €1 million combined for 'wait-list discount' sales models th…
AGCM
Fake urgency
€1,000,000+ overall fine
May 1 '19
Bell
The Bureau obtained a Federal Court order to advance its investigation into Bell's marketing claims for reside…
Competition Bureau
False / unsupported advertising
— Apr 11 '19
UrthBox
Snack subscription box UrthBox offered customers free products in exchange for reviews without disclosing the …
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
— Apr 1 '19
Musical.ly (TikTok)
Musical.ly (now TikTok) collected personal information, including names, email addresses, and location data, f…
FTC
Privacy / consent
$5.7M
Feb 1 '19
Credit Bureau Center
Credit Bureau Center posted fake rental property listings online that funneled prospective renters to a "free"…
FTC
Auto-renew / negative option
$29.94
Jan 1 '19
Planet49 (C-673/17)
The CJEU ruled in Planet49 that pre-ticked checkboxes for cookie and marketing consent are invalid -- consent …
CJEU
Privacy / consent
— Jan 1 '19
Lyoness (pyramid selling scheme)
AGCM fined cashback and rewards company Lyoness over €3 million for running what amounted to a pyramid selling…
AGCM
Earnings claims
€3,000,000+ penalty
Jan 1 '19
Aveling Homes
Home builder Aveling Homes ran two websites presented as independent, customer-run review platforms, but the c…
ACCC
Fake reviews
— Jan 1 '19
Meriton Serviced Apartments
Meriton systematically blocked negative-review requests by editing guest email addresses in its booking system…
ACCC
Fake reviews
AU$3,000,000
Jun 1 '18
Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche (3.0L diesel)
Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche settled a follow-on Bureau case covering false environmental claims on their 3.0…
Competition Bureau
Greenwashing
CA$2.5M penalty (plus up to CA$290.5M consumer compensation)
Jan 12 '18
Amazon
Amazon settled Bureau concerns that its 'was/now' list-price comparisons overstated typical selling prices, ag…
Competition Bureau
Fake discount / reference price
CA$1.1M (CA$1M penalty + CA$100K costs)
Jan 11 '17
Volkswagen/Audi (2.0L diesel)
Volkswagen and Audi settled Bureau concerns that they falsely advertised 2.0L diesel vehicles as low-emission …
Competition Bureau
Greenwashing
CA$15M penalty (plus up to CA$2.1B consumer compensation)
Dec 19 '16
Moose Knuckles
Outerwear brand Moose Knuckles settled Bureau concerns over 'Made in Canada' claims on products that didn't me…
Competition Bureau
Made-in / origin claims
CA$750,000 charitable donation
Dec 7 '16
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