FTC

The Federal Trade Commission has approved a $5 billion USD settlement with Facebook to end a probe into the company's privacy practices that began after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revelations early last year, the Wall Street Journal reports. The settlement would easily surpass the FTC's largest financial penalty to date, which was a $22.5 million...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched a lawsuit against Qualcomm, accusing the company of forcing Apple into an exclusive deal to buy its baseband processors. When Apple was looking to lower the patent royalties it was paying Qualcomm, the semiconductor manufacturer said that in order to do that Apple must buy Qualcomm chips exclusively...

Apple is in hot water in South Korea, as the country's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating "some matters" without revealing too many details about the investigation, reports Reuters. The announcement was made by Jeong Jae-Chan, chairman of South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, at a parliamentary hearing, but he declined to give any details when...

Antitrust officials are investigating whether Apple is using its influence in the music industry to orchestrate a potentially unfair advantage over its competitors, reports Bloomberg. The FTC will need to "stay in line", however, because there are two other government bodies currently investigating the same business practices: the US Department of Justice – as reported...

According to The Washington Post, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken strict action against the marketers of two smartphone apps, claiming to be able to detect the symptoms of melanoma simply by snapping a picture of a mole with a smartphone. The makers of the two apps namely "Mole Detective" and “MelApp”, have both been fined...

According to an exclusive report by Reuters, anonymous sources have indicated that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked Apple to provide assurance that it will prevent sensitive health data collected by its upcoming Apple Watch and its other portable devices, from being used without user’s consent. The report also claims that Apple executives have...

Apple is scrambling to make changes to its in-app purchases (IAPs) system in the App Store, in order to settle a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint that it billed consumers for millions of dollars of charges incurred by kids without their parents’ consent, ZDNet is reporting. The settlement requires Apple to change how it charges...

The Federal Trade Commission proudly announced yesterday that it had caught Apple off guard by slapping the company with a consent decree in which it is forced to reimburse parents for the costs of accidental in-app purchases by their children. But, as it turns out, not all members of the FTC agree that they have...

Apple has already settled the unauthorized use of in-app purchases lawsuit, offering iTunes credits and refunds to parents. But this seems like it wasn't enough for the Federal Trade Commission, who threatened a second lawsuit. So, finally, today Apple has agreed to sign a consent decree with the regulator. It doesn’t feel right for the...

Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has fined Apple approximately $670,000 for restricting local telecom companies to set their sale prices of iPhones, a move that inhibits competition, according to The Wall Street Journal. While Apple has the opportunity to make an appeal, it may face a fine up to $1.6 million if it doesn't comply, the commission noted. (Image...

Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has fined Samsung with just over $340,000 for publishing false praise and negative comments online about its competitors, The Verge reports. FTC had opened an investigation back in April after receiving these allegations against the Korean company. That investigation has now found the Samsung used a "large number of hired writers and designated...