Consumer Deception fines

Fifty-one state and territory attorneys general settled claims that Meta designed Instagram and Facebook to be addictive for minors, knowingly exposed young users to mental-health harm, and misled the public about how safe its platforms were. Meta will pay a guaranteed $12.1B over ten years, rising to $17.1B if other major social platforms agree to adopt the same safeguards.

The FTC settled claims that Amazon tricked consumers into enrolling in Prime through deceptive sign-up flows and made cancellation deliberately difficult, an internal process nicknamed Iliad. The settlement comprised a $1B civil penalty and $1.5B in refunds to about 35 million customers.

The European Commission found that Google gave its own shopping, hotel, transport, and sports results preferential ranking over third-party services in Google Search, and separately blocked Android app developers from telling users about cheaper purchase options outside Google Play. The €890M total splits into €460M for the search conduct and €430M for the Play Store conduct.

New Mexico became the first US state to beat a major technology company at trial over harm to young people. A Santa Fe jury found that Meta made false or misleading statements about platform safety and engaged in unconscionable trade practices that exploited the inexperience of children, and the court then added a $567M remedial award on top of the $375M in civil penalties.

Apple agreed to a US class-action settlement of up to $500M, roughly $25 per affected iPhone, over the same undisclosed performance throttling.

Forty US states settled claims that Google misled users into believing location tracking was off while it kept collecting location data through other settings such as Web & App Activity. It was the largest multistate privacy settlement at the time.

In one of the first Digital Markets Act fines, the Commission found that Meta's pay-or-consent model forced Facebook and Instagram users to either pay a subscription or accept full data combination for personalised ads, without a genuine less-data alternative. Meta adjusted the model after the decision.

The FTC and DOJ penalised Twitter, now X, for using phone numbers and email addresses collected for account security, such as two-factor authentication, to target advertising.

The European Commission found three transparency breaches at X: the paid blue checkmark deceives users because anyone can buy verified status without being verified, the advertising repository is neither searchable nor complete, and researchers are blocked from the public data the DSA requires platforms to share.

Thirty-four US states settled claims over the hidden iPhone throttling, separate from the consumer class action.

Alabama settled claims that TikTok Inc. built its platform with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harm, and misled the public about its safety. The case was set for trial the following week and would have been the first state case against TikTok to reach trial.

France's DGCCRF fined Apple for failing to tell consumers that iOS updates could slow older iPhones to manage aging batteries, part of the wider Batterygate episode.

The FTC penalised Google for circumventing Safari's default cookie-blocking to track users for advertising, despite telling those users they were protected. It was a record FTC civil penalty at the time.

Italy's AGCM fined Apple for misleading marketing about iPhone water resistance and for refusing warranty service on water-damaged phones.