AccessiBe fined $1 million for claiming it could make websites more accessible
AccessiBe fined $1 million for claiming it could make websites more accessible
The company's claims were deceptive, the FTC said, and the complaint settlement prohibits it from further alleged violations, the FTC said.
AccessiBe is one of the more well known accessibility overlay companies. This FTC settlement suggests that these accessibility overlay companies have been making unsubstantiated claims about the capabilities of their software. I recommend checking out the Overlay Fact Sheet for more information. For example, a lot of the automated fixes like adding alt text to images and field labels are not reliable. These repairs can also cause unexpected issues. Basically, these companies need to better represent the limitations of their product. Additionally, overlays offer assistive technology features like font and color changes. However, users who need these features are probably implementing them at the system or web browser level. An overlay only enables these features on one website, which isn't as helpful.
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FTC actually bothering to investigate and carry out a fine? That’s fucking rare.
Because of the target. Accessibility improvements are an enemy to capitalism.
This company should not have lied about their software's capabilities, and they definitely should face the repercussions, but this is a twofer for conservatives. Don't even try to make your shit accessible, because it's harder than you think and you might get in trouble for falling short. In short, accessibility is cumbersome and expensive.
That's the message they get to send with this prosecution. That's why you hear crickets from the deregulation crowd, and why every article (except this one, well done) will go into great detail about the complexities of accessibility overlays while glossing over the anti-consumer practices that actually resulted in fines.