The verdict is in. The background is this:
In October 2019, before any of us had heard of such an animal as a pangolin, the FTC went after direct response behemoth Agora. Specifically, the FTC said Agora deceived customers with two products.
The first of these was “The Doctor’s Guide to Reversing Diabetes in 28 Days.” No diet changes… no drugs… no exercise required.
How?
The pitch was that diabetes is caused by “Non-Ionizing Radiation,” which the FTC says is based on no known scientific fact.
The second deceptive product was a book titled, “Congress’ Secret $1.17 Trillion Giveaway.”
The advertising for this book claimed you are entitled to get “Republican checks.” And if you don’t collect yours, somebody else will.
Really?
According to the FTC, it turned out to be the old play of “transubstantiating” dividend-paying stocks into free money.
So two days ago, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, announced the verdict for this anti-Agora action.
From what I understand:
Agora has to stop making misleading, unsubstantiated claims, as with the two products above. (For example, they have to drop the “Non-Ionizing Radiation” shtick I mentioned upstairs.) They also have to pay a fine of $2M.
I’m just reporting this as industry news. I don’t have a single specific point to draw out of this. But here are a few thoughts circling in my head:
1. The $2M fine seems easy to manage for a billion-dollar company.
2. I’m no lawyer or blind supporter of the Bill of Rights. But to me, banning books (and consequent advertising) that promote unproven medical theories sure sounds like a violation of the 1st Amendment.
3. Overall, this decision seems fairly limited and uninteresting. At least it’s nothing comparable to the Raging Bull action currently in progress, which I wrote about before Christmas.
But fear not. When that verdict comes out, I’ll send you another update… and you can then decide whether it’s time to look for a new job.