Google Accused of Spending Millions on Misleading Radio Ads

Google has found itself in the middle of another legal controversy. The FTC has filed a new lawsuit against the search engine giant, citing how Google spent millions on deceptive ads for the Pixel 4. What's more, Google and iHeartMedia appeared to pay influencers so much money that they ended up promoting the product despite never using it in the first place. This shows how disrespectful it is to the world of advertising and the policies that apply to it.

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FTC Says It Hopes to Stop Google from Promoting Such False Reviews That Mislead Buyers

Today, the network has managed to reach around 245 million listeners every month. This includes both AM and FM and various other stations such as internet radio. As mentioned in a recent dossier, Google has paid $3 million to large radio companies like iHeartMedia and a slightly less surprising $3 million to smaller radio platforms. The point of contention here has to do with how various personalities mentioned on the air via endorsements and how great the product was before they got their hands on it via the phone. This may be partly due to Google's inability to provide the phones on time.

The influencers were provided with scripts thanks to Google really highlighting a lot of cool features like low-light photography and another exciting new Google Assistant. Google says it sent out 5 units, but the FTC claims that most of those promoting the product didn't own a Pixel 4 or do radio ads. And that's despite the ad running nearly 29,000 times. And predictably, this is a major violation of the FTC and it affects commerce as well. Going forward, the FTC says it hopes to stop Google from encouraging such false reviews that mislead buyers and get them excited about something that never existed in the first place.