FTC and states sue Google LLC and iHeart Media

The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general of seven states — Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas — have announced lawsuits against Google LLC and iHeartMedia, Inc. for airing nearly 29,000 deceptive endorsements by radio personalities promoting their use of and experience with Google’s Pixel 4 phone in 2019 and 2020. The proposed FTC orders and the state judgments settling the allegations bar Google and iHeartMedia from similar misrepresentations, and the state judgments also require them to pay $9.4 million in penalties.

The FTC’s administrative complaint alleges that the companies’ misrepresentations violated the FTC Act. Links to the FTC's agreements with Google LLC and iHeart Media, Inc., and analyses of the proposed consent orders to aid public comment can be found on the FTC's website, along with six one-minute audio recordings of sample endorsements involved in the case.