- The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) reached a settlement with mobile advertising company Tapjoy, Inc. to resolve allegations that it failed to deliver promised in-game rewards to consumers in violation of the FTC Act.
- The complaint alleged that Tapjoy operated an advertising platform within mobile games, offering players virtual rewards like game currency for completing tasks from third-party advertisers—including purchasing products and providing their email addresses—but that it frequently failed to provide the reward it promised for the completion of the task. According to the complaint, in response to receiving hundreds of thousands of complaints from consumers who were not issued the promised rewards, Tapjoy took steps to make it more difficult for consumers to submit complaints.
- Under the terms of the proposed consent order, Tapjoy must clearly and conspicuously inform consumers about the terms of its reward offers, including specifying that third-party advertisers determine whether a reward is to be issued, and must monitor third-party advertisers to ensure that they provide the promised rewards and discipline advertisers who mislead consumers, among other things.