- The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) reached a settlement with online children’s education company Age of Learning, Inc. to resolve allegations that it failed to disclose key membership terms, resulting in thousands of renewal charges without consent, in violation of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act.
- The complaint alleges that, among other things, Age of Learning advertised several membership and trial membership offers but failed to clearly tell consumers that their memberships would be renewed automatically until canceled, and failed to provide a simple way for consumers to cancel their memberships.
- Under the terms of the stipulated order, Age of Learning will pay a $10 million judgment to the FTC and will be permanently enjoined from misrepresenting its negative-option renewals, including using terms like “no obligation” in conjunction with its trial memberships. Age of Learning will also be required to disclose and clearly explain key terms and information about its memberships, obtain consumers’ informed consent prior to enrolling them in automatic billing programs, and provide a simple cancellation process.