Headline:
Shutterstock to Pay $35 Million to Settle FTC Allegations Over Illegal Subscription and Cancellation Practices
Summary:
This lead was identified from FTC Consumer Protection Press Releases. It has been saved for accountability coverage and should be reviewed against the original source before expansion.
What the record says:
The source headline is: Shutterstock to Pay $35 Million to Settle FTC Allegations Over Illegal Subscription and Cancellation Practices. The source summary says: Shutterstock Inc. will pay $35 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the online digital photo and video platform illegally made tens of millions of dollars from a range of unfair and deceptive practices, including charging consumers for products without their informed consent and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions.“Subscription and negative option features can be beneficial for both companies and consumers, making renewal simpler and streamlining payment processes,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “But these benefits depend critically on firms clearly disclosing material terms, securing express and informed consent before charging consumers, and ensuring cancellation is a straightforward and simple process. When firms fail to follow these simple principles, they deprive consumers of the ability to make inform
Why it matters:
This may be relevant to public accountability, consumer protection, government oversight, fraud monitoring, or financial transparency depending on the source record.
What is not yet proven:
This draft should not be treated as proof beyond what the linked source directly supports. Avoid adding accusations, private information, or copied text from the original source.
Source:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/05/shutterstock-pay-35-million-settle-ftc-allegations-over-illegal-subscription-cancellation-practices
AI writer note: OPENAI_API_KEY is empty, so this was generated with the built-in safe fallback writer.