The announcement comes a week after the agency announced a separate agreement that blocked location data broker Outlogic, formerly X-Mode Social, from selling location data that could reveal a person’s medical visits. That order marked the first time the agency struck a deal to prohibit a company from selling sensitive location data.
The FTC has singled out privacy violations by data brokers as an enforcement priority, with the agency’s consumer protection chief, Sam Levine, speaking out last year against what he called a “fever” by companies to scoop up and trade people’s delicate data with little regard for their well-being.
In its announcement, the FTC said that InMarket maintained lists of users based on detailed grouping traits, such as for “parents of preschoolers” and “Christian church goers,” that it could use to fuel its advertising offering, in addition to targeting users based on their location. The company, which could not be immediately reached for comment, was listed by the tech publication The Markup in 2021 as one of the dozens of brokers that made up the multibillion dollar market trading location data.
“All too often, Americans are tracked by serial data hoarders that endlessly vacuum up and use personal information,” FTC Chair Lina Khan (D) said in a statement.
The FTC approved the order 3-0, with all of its Democratic commissioners voting in favor. The agency has lacked a full complement for months, with both of its Republican commissioners stepping down over the past two years after at times speaking out against Khan’s leadership.
The earlier Outlogic order is part of a broader push by the Biden administration to expand privacy protections in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which sparked fears that people’s sensitive data could be used to target those seeking abortions.
In July 2022, Biden signed an executive order asking the FTC to take new steps to protect sensitive user data related to reproductive health services, such as abortion.