The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has fined accessiBe, a startup that claims to make websites more compatible with the screen readers blind people rely on to access the internet, for false advertising and compensating reviewers without disclosing that it sponsored the reviews.
In a proposed order, the FTC would require accessiBe to pay $1 million that may be used to refund the company’s customers, and prohibit accessiBe from overstating the capabilities of its tools. The order would also mandate that accessiBe “clearly and conspicuously” highlight connections to endorsers of its services.
“Companies looking for help making their websites [accessibility] compliant must be able to trust that products do what they are advertised to do,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection, said in a statement. “Overstating a product’s … capabilities without adequate evidence is deceptive, and the FTC will act to stop it.”
accessiBe, based in New York, sells an AI-powered plug-in that it says can make any website compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a set of technical criteria used to assess website accessibility. The company pitches its services as a shield against lawsuits for noncompliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the federal civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination.
Founded in 2018 by entrepreneurs Dekel Skoop, Gal Vizel, and Shir Ekerling, accessiBe has managed to raise $58.5 million in venture capital from investors, including Los Angeles-based private equity firm K1. At one point, accessiBe’s customers included Pillsbury, Benadryl, Playmobil, the Los Angeles Lakers, and government agencies like the Louisiana Department of Health.
But many advocacy groups and customers say that accessiBe’s products don’t work.
Tools like accessiBe’s can prevent the screen reading applications used by blind and low-vision users, which read out loud what’s on websites, from reading pages correctly — and even render some web pages unnavigable. Customers have sued accessiBe in class action lawsuits, alleging that the company’s products failed to make their websites fully compliant with ADA standards.
During its 2021 convention, the National Federation of the Blind described accessiBe’s marketing and business practices as “disrespectful and misleading.” That same year, 400 blind people, accessibility advocates, and software developers signed an open letter calling on companies that use automated services like accessiBe’s to stop.
In 2021, more than 400 companies with an accessibility widget or overlay on their website were sued over accessibility, per digital accessibility provider UsableNet.
accessiBe isn’t the only vendor selling automated accessibility tools for websites. But it has bee accused of adopting a “defensive,” dismissive style of engagement with the accessibility community — and of making lofty claims.
According to the FTC, accessiBe not only fell short of its promises to clients, but engaged in misleading marketing. accessiBe “deceptively formatted third-party articles and reviews” to appear as if they were independent opinions by impartial authors, said the agency in a press release, and failed to reveal “material connections” to supposedly objective reviewers.
The FTC’s order, which was approved unanimously by the FTC’s five commissioners, will be subject to public comment for 30 days, after which the Commission will decide whether to make it final.
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