Advertising keywords are the carnival barkers of the internet. Their job is to shout, “Me, me, me, me, me!” to people searching online for a product or service. If successful, they’ll get prospective customers to click on the ad or website of whoever paid their fare. A newly announced FTC case is a reminder that if you use keywords to promote your product for uses covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), it’s time to step right up and pay attention to the FCRA’s consumer protections.
San Diego-based companies Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder, and three related companies, will pay $5.8 million to settle charges they violated the FCRA and the FTC Act in the course of marketing their consumer background reports as a way for prospective employers and landlords to screen applicants.
The companies sell consumer background reports through their Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder websites. The FTC says they assemble and merge information they get from other data brokers. Their reports usually include phone numbers, addresses, relatives, arrest and criminal records, social media profiles, and more. Customers can access the reports by buying monthly subscriptions to the websites.
Where did they go wrong? According to the complaint, the companies bought thousands of advertising keywords from Google and Microsoft to ensure that Instant Checkmate or TruthFinder ads appeared in response to searches related to employment or tenant screening. For example, they bought keywords...
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