FTC Fines Cox Media Group Over Deceptive Ad Targeting Claims

May 21, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

Cox Media Group and two other marketing firms will pay close to a $1 million to settle allegations that they lied about their AI-powered service’s ability to use consumers’ voice and location data to better target ads.

Had the service worked as advertised, the FTC said the companies still would have violated the law.

In separate complaints against Cox Media Group (CMG), MindSift LLC, and 1010 Digital Works LLC, the FTC said the firms claimed to use a special algorithm to listen in on and detect relevant conversations from smart devices. These conversations could then be used to target ads ...

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