The Federal Trade Commission will require software provider accessiBe to pay $1 million to settle allegations that it misrepresented the ability of its AI-powered web accessibility tool to make any website compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for people with disabilities.

Companies looking for help making their websites WCAG compliant must be able to trust that products do what they are advertised to do, said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection. Overstating a products AI or other capabilities without adequate evidence is deceptive, and the FTC will act to stop it.

New York-based accessiBe markets and sells a web accessibility software plug-in called accessWidget that the company has said can make any website compliant with WCAG, a comprehensive set of technical criteria used to assess website accessibility.

The company made the claims on its website, on social media, and in articles on third-party websites that the FTC said were formatted to look like impartial and objective reviews.

Didn't perform as promised

According to thecomplaint, despite the companys claims, accessWidget did not make all user websites WCAG-compliant and these claims were therefore false, misleading, or unsubstantiated, in violation of the FTC Act. In addition, the complaint alleges that accessiBe deceptively formatted third-party articles and reviews to appear as if they were independent opinions by impartial authors and failed to disclose the companys material connections to the supposedly objective reviewers.

Under theproposed ordersettling the complaint, accessiBe would be prohibited from engaging in the allegedly illegal conduct. First, the order would bar the company from representing that its automated products, including accessWidgets AI, can make any website WCAG-compliant or can ensure continued compliance with WCAG over time, unless it has the evidence to support such claims.