On May 20, PayPal entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance (AVC) with
the Texas Attorney General over allegations that it failed to
clearly explain how the personal information belonging to users of
its Venmo mobile payment application would be used and with whom it
would be shared.
The AVC stems from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's
investigation into potential violations of the Texas Deceptive
Trade Practices Act by Venmo, a popular money transfer app and
social network that allows users to electronically pay others by
using linked bank accounts or credit cards that PayPal acquired in
December 2013.
According to a press release issued by Paxton, his
office's Consumer Protection Division found a number of issues
regarding the safety and security of the Venmo app. Investigators
allege that Venmo used consumers' phone contacts without
clearly disclosing how the contacts would be used, did not clearly
disclose how consumers' transactions and interactions
