FTC v. accessiBe - Deceptive Marketing and False Claims

The Federal Trade Commission filed its first major enforcement action against an accessibility overlay vendor, charging accessiBe with making false and deceptive claims about the capabilities of their automated accessibility widget (accessWidget). Primary violations included: - False claims that accessWidget could make any website WCAG 2.1 compliant within 48 hours - Undisclosed paid endorsements from content creators and accessibility advocates - Deceptive third-party review generation practices - Misleading marketing about automated accessibility solutions FTC findings demonstrated that automated overlay solutions alone cannot achieve WCAG compliance, particularly for: - Complex form functionality requiring human review - Context-dependent content decisions - Nuanced accessibility requirements that require manual implementation - Screen reader compatibility issues requiring code-level fixes The $1 million penalty and 20-year compliance monitoring order represent unprecedented FTC enforcement against the accessibility overlay industry. AccessiBe is prohibited from making any claims that automated products can make websites fully WCAG-compliant without substantial human review and implementation.