Overview

• Avast fined $16.5 million by the FTC for selling user browsing data to advertisers, violating privacy promises.
• The data sold included sensitive information such as religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, and financial status.
• Avast's subsidiary, Jumpshot, sold the data to over 100 third parties, including major companies and advertising firms.
• Despite Avast's claims of anonymizing data, the FTC found that the data could still be re-identified, compromising user privacy.
• Avast is now banned from selling user data for advertising purposes and must inform affected users that their data was previously sold.