FTC to Require Cox Media Group to Pay Nearly $1 Million to Settle Charges They Deceived Customers About “Active Listening” AI-Powered Marketing Service

美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）要求考克斯媒体集团（Cox Media Group）支付近 100 万美元，以和解其在“主动监听”人工智能营销服务中欺骗客户的指控

The Federal Trade Commission will require Cox Media Group (CMG) and two smaller marketing firms to pay a total of $930,000 to settle allegations they deceived customers by falsely claiming to offer an AI-powered service that could target localized ads based on conversations captured from consumers’ smart devices and that consumers had opted into such targeting.

美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）将要求考克斯媒体集团（CMG）及两家小型营销公司支付总计 93 万美元，以和解相关指控。这些公司被指控通过虚假宣传欺骗客户，声称其提供一种人工智能驱动的服务，能够根据从消费者智能设备中获取的对话进行本地化广告投放，并谎称消费者已同意此类定位。

In three separate complaints, the FTC alleged that Georgia-based media and marketing company CMG Media Corporation, which does business as Cox Media Group, and two marketing firms it worked with, New Hampshire-based MindSift LLC and Wisconsin-based 1010 Digital Works LLC, deceived customers by claiming they used a special algorithm to listen in on and detect pertinent conversations from smart devices in order to target ads to consumers within a specific geographic region. Contrary to these companies’ claims, however, the marketing service wasn’t based on voice data and consumers hadn’t opted into this service.

在三份独立的投诉中，FTC 指控总部位于佐治亚州的媒体与营销公司 CMG Media Corporation（以考克斯媒体集团名义运营）及其合作的两家营销公司——总部位于新罕布什尔州的 MindSift LLC 和威斯康星州的 1010 Digital Works LLC——欺骗了客户。这些公司声称使用特殊算法监听并检测智能设备中的相关对话，以便向特定地理区域的消费者投放广告。然而，与这些公司的说法相反，该营销服务并非基于语音数据，且消费者也从未同意使用此项服务。

“Not only did the product these companies marketed not do what they claimed it did, but they also misled potential customers by claiming consumers had opted into this service when it’s clear they did not,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “It is a basic rule of business that you need to be honest with your customers, and these companies failed to do that.”

“这些公司推销的产品不仅没有实现其宣称的功能，而且在明知消费者并未同意的情况下，谎称消费者已选择加入该服务，从而误导了潜在客户，”FTC 消费者保护局局长克里斯托弗·穆法里奇（Christopher Mufarrige）表示。“对客户诚实是商业的基本准则，而这些公司未能做到这一点。”

CMG, MindSift and 1010 Digital Works claimed their “Active Listening” branded marketing service listened in on consumers’ conversations overheard by smart devices, in real time, to target advertising, according to the complaints. The three companies claimed the Active Listening service would allow small businesses to advertise to consumers in the small businesses’ desired locations.

根据投诉，CMG、MindSift 和 1010 Digital Works 声称其名为“主动监听”（Active Listening）的营销服务能够实时监听智能设备捕捉到的消费者对话，从而进行精准广告投放。这三家公司宣称，“主动监听”服务可以让小型企业向其目标区域内的消费者投放广告。

According to the complaints, this service did not, in fact, listen in on consumers’ conversations or use voice data at all—nor did the service accurately place ads in customers’ desired locations. Instead, the service the companies provided consisted of reselling—at a significant markup—email lists obtained from other data brokers.

投诉指出，该服务实际上根本没有监听消费者的对话，也没有使用任何语音数据，更无法准确地将广告投放到客户指定的地点。相反，这些公司提供的服务仅仅是高价转售从其他数据经纪人处获取的电子邮件列表。

The FTC also alleged that all three companies deceived potential customers by claiming that consumers had opted into the Active Listening service. The company, however, did not seek or obtain consumers’ consent, according to the complaints. Instead, the companies claimed that consumers had “opted in” by agreeing to the terms of service that people have to accept when downloading and using apps. Clicking through mandatory terms of service does not constitute “opt-in consent” for such an invasive service or for use of consumers’ voice data from inside their homes. If the Active Listening service had functioned as advertised, this collection and use of consumers’ voice data without adequate consent would itself violate Section 5 of the FTC Act.

FTC 还指控这三家公司通过谎称消费者已同意加入“主动监听”服务来欺骗潜在客户。然而，投诉显示，这些公司并未寻求或获得消费者的同意。相反，他们声称消费者在下载和使用应用程序时同意了服务条款，即视为“已选择加入”。点击强制性的服务条款并不构成对这种侵入性服务或使用消费者家中语音数据的“选择性同意”。如果“主动监听”服务真的按其宣传的那样运作，这种在没有充分同意的情况下收集和使用消费者语音数据的行为本身就违反了《联邦贸易委员会法》第 5 条。

The FTC alleged that these practices violated the FTC Act. The FTC also charged MindSift and 1010 Digital Works with a second count of violating the FTC Act by providing CMG with the “means and instrumentalities” to deceive customers through marketing materials, sales pitches and responses to customer questions that misled small businesses about the capabilities of the Active Listening service.

FTC 指控这些行为违反了《联邦贸易委员会法》。FTC 还对 MindSift 和 1010 Digital Works 提出了第二项指控，称其通过营销材料、销售话术和对客户问题的回复，向小型企业误导了“主动监听”服务的功能，从而为 CMG 提供了欺骗客户的“手段和工具”。

Under the proposed orders settling the FTC’s allegations, CMG must pay $880,000 while both MindSift and 1010 Digital Works will each pay $25,000, which will be used to provide redress to CMG customers impacted by these practices. In addition, each defendant will be prohibited from making any misrepresentation about: the qualities or features of its advertising or marketing services; the collection and use of voice data and whether consumers have provided their consent to collect, use or disclose their voice data; and the geographic targeting capabilities of its advertising or marketing services.

根据和解 FTC 指控的拟议命令，CMG 必须支付 88 万美元，MindSift 和 1010 Digital Works 各需支付 2.5 万美元，这些资金将用于赔偿受此行为影响的 CMG 客户。此外，每位被告将被禁止就以下事项进行任何虚假陈述：其广告或营销服务的质量或功能；语音数据的收集和使用，以及消费者是否已同意收集、使用或披露其语音数据；以及其广告或营销服务的地理定位能力。