Influencers were paid by Google to promote a Pixel phone they never used

Enlarge / The Pixel 4. Ron Amadeo

Google and iHeartMedia, the largest radio station operator in the United States, are the subject of a false advertising lawsuit for advertisements they ran on the Pixel 4 (which we have found too expensive and full of half-worked experiences). The FTC and four states say the companies served "nearly 29,000 misleading radio personality endorsements" in 2019 and 2020, with Consumer Protection Bureau Director Samuel Levine saying "Google and iHeartMedia paid influencers to promote products they've never used, showing a blatant disrespect for the rules of truth in advertising.The two companies have settled the lawsuit and will have to pay $9.4 million penalties.

In Google ads, on-air personalities shared how much they loved the Pixel 4, but, to quote the FTC's press release, "on-air personalities haven't received a Pixel 4 before recording and airing the majority of commercials and therefore did not own or regularly use the phones." Therefore, first-person claims made in advertisements, such as "It's my favorite phone camera, especially in low light, thanks to the Night Sight mode", "I took everything in the studio" and "It's also great for helping me get things done, thanks to the new voice-activated Google Assistant that can handle multiple tasks at once," that can't be true.

It looks like everything would have been fine if those ads weren't in the first person. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said, “It makes sense for people to value first-hand experiences more. Consumers expect radio advertisements to be truthful and transparent about products, and not misleading with false endorsements. Today's settlement holds Google and iHeart accountable for this misleading ad campaign and ensures compliance with state and federal laws in the future."

A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch, "We are pleased to have resolved this issue. We take compliance with advertising laws seriously and have processes in place designed to ensure we comply with applicable industry regulations and standards."

Under the settlement, Google and iHeartMedia are not allowed to "falsely state that an endorser has owned or used, or about their experience with, certain products." The agreement is subject to a 30-day public comment period, after which the commission will vote on whether to make the proposed consent orders final.