Avast Found Guilty Of Selling Users' Browsing Data By US Federal Trade Comission, Have To Pay $16.5 Million

The FTC has mandated Avast to pay $16.5 million and discontinue the sale or licensing of users' web browsing data for advertising purposes. Avast was found guilty of breaching consumers' rights by collecting and selling their browsing data without consent, while deceptively marketing products as privacy safeguards. The company's practices, which date back to 2014, involved harvesting data through browser extensions and antivirus software, storing it indefinitely, and distributing it to over 100 third parties. Avast's misleading assurances regarding privacy protection while profiting from detailed browsing data were exposed in 2019, leading to the FTC's enforcement and financial penalty. Read more...