Online marketer ValueClick has reached a $2.9 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to resolve allegations that the company engages in deceptive online marketing practices, and violated provisions of the CAN-SPAM and FTC Acts.
ValueClick is a “lead-generation” firm that uses online promotions and other incentives to deliver potential customers to its clients. The FTC probe, launched in mid-2007, centered on Web sites claiming to offer a free gift of significant value, as well as the Web- and email-based mechanisms ValueClick used to draw traffic to those sites. By settling with the FTC, ValueClick is not admitting any wrongdoing, or acknowledging it broke any laws.
“We have worked with the FTC and have reached an agreement on the standards and practices that will govern our lead generation business going forward,” said ValueClicks’s COO of U.S. media David Yovanno, in a statement. “We believe this settlement will also help set the guidelines for the lead generation industry as a whole, and we will continue to participate in the Internet Advertising Bureau to help establish best practices to that end.”
The FTC’s investigation of ValueClick was basically seen as a sign the federal government is growing impatient with the online lead-generation industry’s inability to regulate itself. Consumer advocacy groups have repeatedly called for legislation to normalize practices within the industry, and some feel only the government will have the enforcement power to prevent the industry from misleading consumers and abusing loopholes in current legislation.
