In the Matter of State of Texas and PayPal, Inc. (Tex. Dist. Ct. May 2016)
PayPal has entered into a $175,000 settlement with the Texas Attorney General's Office after the state alleged that PayPal's Venmo application, a popular app used to transfer money and marketed as a convenient way to share payments among friends, violated portions of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act. The Texas AG alleged that the Venmo app used consumers' personal phone contact lists without adequate explanation or disclosure as to how this information would be used by the company. Further, the AG alleged that PayPal failed to disclose how users' transactions and communications with other users would be shared. In addition to paying monetary damages, PayPal agreed to several alterations of its business practices, including seeking permission from users prior to accessing their contact lists and informing users how such information will be used if permission is granted. View the decision.
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