The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has imposed a fine on accessiBe, a startup asserting its purpose is to enhance website compatibility with screen readers used by visually impaired individuals. The penalty is for false advertising and for compensating reviewers without sufficient disclosure of sponsorship.
Under a proposed order, the FTC would mandate that accessiBe pay $1 million, which may be allocated towards refunds for its customers. The order will also prevent accessiBe from exaggerating the capabilities of its solutions and will require the company to showcase any affiliations with its service endorsers in a “clear and conspicuous” manner.
“Businesses seeking assistance to ensure their websites are [accessibility] compliant need to trust that products perform as advertised,” stated Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection. “Misrepresenting a product’s capabilities without sufficient evidence is misleading, and the FTC is committed to addressing such issues.”
AccessiBe, based in New York, offers an AI-driven plugin that claims to make any website compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines outline the technical standards for assessing website accessibility. The company markets its services as a safeguard against legal actions pertaining to noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which protects against discrimination towards individuals with disabilities.
Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Dekel Skoop, Gal Vizel, and Shir Ekerling, accessiBe has successfully raised $58.5 million in venture funding from investors, including the Los Angeles-based private equity firm K1. At its peak, accessiBe’s clientele included notable names such as Pillsbury, Benadryl, Playmobil, the Los Angeles Lakers, and various government agencies, including the Louisiana Department of Health.
Nonetheless, numerous advocacy groups and customers assert that accessiBe’s products are ineffective.
Tools like those offered by accessiBe can obstruct the operation of screen reading applications utilised by blind and low-vision users, which vocalise website content. These tools can lead to inaccuracies in page reading or make certain web pages impossible to navigate. Customers have initiated class action lawsuits against accessiBe, claiming that the products do not achieve full compliance with ADA standards.
During its 2021 convention, the National Federation of the Blind characterised accessiBe’s marketing and business strategies as “disrespectful and misleading.” In that same year, over 400 individuals, including blind persons, accessibility advocates, and software developers, endorsed an open letter urging companies that employ automated services like accessiBe’s to cease such practices.
In 2021, more than 400 companies with an accessibility widget or overlay on their websites faced lawsuits over accessibility issues, as reported by the digital accessibility provider UsableNet.
AccessiBe is not the only provider of automated accessibility solutions for websites. However, it has experienced criticism for having a “defensive” and dismissive approach towards the accessibility community while making grand claims regarding its services.
According to the FTC, accessiBe not only failed to meet its promises to customers but also employed deceptive marketing practices. The agency’s press release stated that accessiBe “manipulated third-party articles and reviews” to give the impression they were unbiased opinions from impartial authors, while neglecting to disclose “material connections” to those supposedly objective reviewers.
The FTC’s order, which received unanimous approval from the agency’s five commissioners, will undergo a 30-day public comment period before the Commission decides on its finalisation.
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