Spokeo Agrees To $800,000 FTC Settlement

Spokeo, Inc. has agreed to pay the FTC $800,000 to settle the FTC's claims alleging that Spokeo violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and committed unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the FTC Act. Spokeo is a data broker that collects personal information of millions of consumers and compiles that information into online profiles for each person. The information it collects and compiles includes a person's name, address, age range, email address, hobbies, ethnicity, religion, photos and social media use. This is the first time that the FTC has brought an action addressing the sale of Internet and social media information in the context of employment screening.

In its complaint, the FTC asserted that Spokeo is a "consumer reporting agency" under the FCRA because it assembles consumer information for the purpose of furnishing "consumer reports" to third parties. The FTC determined that Spokeo profiles are consumer reports under the FCRA because