Federal Trade Commission Orders AccessiBe To Pay $1M For Misleading Claims Relating To Automated Website Accessibility Remediation Tool – Advertising, Marketing & Branding

Seyfarth Synopsis: The FTC issued a Decision and Order
prohibiting accessibility plug-in/Widget vendor AccessiBe from
making misleading claims and to pay $1 million.

As the number of website accessibility lawsuit filings have exceeded 2,200 per year since 2018, so too has
the list of companies offering solutions for making websites
accessible to users who are blind or have other disabilities.
Because the process of auditing a website for accessibility issues
and then remediating them by making actual changes to the source
code can be expensive and time consuming, a number of businesses
have emerged with quick and inexpensive “solutions” using
overlays, widgets or plug-ins that claim to automatically make
websites accessible to individuals with disabilities. The actual
efficacy of these methods or tools, as well as the related
marketing claims of these vendors, have been the topic of heated
debate in the digital accessibility community in recent years. Many
businesses – lured by the promise of an inexpensive solution
– have paid for these automated accessibility tools even
while some plaintiffs and advocacy groups insist that they do not
work.

One of the most visible vendors in this space is accessiBe,
which was the subject of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
investigation. On April 21, 2025, the FTC issued a Decision and Order (the “Order”)
which, among other things, orders accessiBe to pay $1M and
prohibits it from representing that its automated products can make
any website compliant, or ensure continued compliance, with the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), unless it has the evidence
to support its claims. The Order also prohibits accessiBe from
misrepresenting that statements in reviews, blog posts, or articles
about its automated products are independent opinions by impartial
users or organizations providing objective information. The Order
remains in effect for twenty (20) years, during which time
accessiBe must file annual compliance reports with the FTC.

The Order resolves a detailed 27-page Complaint issued by the FTC which charged
accessiBe with violating the Federal Trade Commission Act by
falsely claiming that accessiBe’s widget (accessWidget) made
all user websites WCAG-compliant. According to the Complaint,
accessiBe claimed that “installing accessWidget’s ‘one
line of code’ makes a website compliant with 30% of WCAG’s
requirements immediately and initiates an AI process that makes the
website fully compliant with the remaining 70% of WCAG requirements
within 48 hours.” The Complaint alleged that “[c]ontrary
to accessiBe’s promises, in a number of instances accessWidget
fails or has failed to make basic and essential website components
like menus, headings, tables, images, recordings, and more,
compliant with WCAG and accessible to persons with
disabilities.” The Complaint further stated that accessiBe
“made these advertising claims on its website and social
media, as well as in paid advertisements” knowing that they
“were deceptively formatted to appear like impartial reviews
and articles.” The Complaint contains detailed examples of the
alleged violations. The FTC also blogged about the issue, noting “It’s
advertising law 101: before you claim your product can perform a
certain task, you need evidence it will work as promised.”

This development confirms our longstanding belief that
businesses need to consult with counsel with experience in digital
accessibility before investing in an accessibility solution, or
hiring an accessibility consultant.

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