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The US Federal Trade Commission has issued a fine accessiBea startup that claims to make websites more responsive to the screen readers that blind people rely on to use the Internet, because of false advertising and paying readers without disclosing that they contributed to the reviews.
In the proposed order, the FTC will they want accessiBe to pay $1 million that can be used to reimburse the company’s customers, and prevent accessiBe from increasing the capacity of its equipment. The law will also mandate that accessiBe “clearly and transparently” communicates with those who accept its services.
“Companies that want help making their websites (accessible) compatible need to trust that the products do what they’re advertised to do,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s office of consumer protection, said in a statement. “Inflating products … without sufficient evidence is fraudulent, and the FTC will take action to stop it.”
New York-based AccessiBe sells an AI-powered plug-in that it claims can make any website conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the technical standards used to evaluate website accessibility. The company positions its services as a shield against claims of noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a federal 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 from investors, including Los Angeles venture capital firm K1. At one point, accessiBe’s clients included Pillsbury, Benadryl, Playmobil, the Los Angeles Lakers, and government agencies such as the Louisiana Department of Health.
But many advocacy groups and customers say accessiBe products don’t work.
Devices such as accessiBe’s can prevent reading programs used by blind and partially sighted people, which read content out loud, from reading pages correctly – and even make certain pages unreadable. Customers will the defendant accessiBe in lawsuits, alleging that the company failed to design their websites to meet ADA standards.
At its 2021 conference, the National Federation of the Blind described accessiBe’s commercials as “disrespectful and misleading.” That same year, 400 blind people, accessibility advocates, and software developers signed a petition an open letter calling on companies that use automated systems like accessiBe’s to stop.
In 2021, more than 400 companies with access widgets or overlays on their websites were criticized for being found, on Digital accessibility provider UsableNet.
AccessiBe is not the only supplier of web-based tools. But that has been the accused based on “security,” a system that is inconsistent with the people who have access to it – and making high-profile claims.
According to the FTC, accessiBe not only failed to deliver on its promises to customers, but engaged in misleading marketing. accessiBe “third-party articles and comments” to appear as independent opinions of unbiased writers, the organization said in a press release, and did not disclose “material links” to those it believed to be targeted.
The FTC rule, which was approved by five FTC commissioners, will be made available to the public for 30 days, after which the Committee will decide whether to finalize it.
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