Digital marketers acting as service providers can be held liable by the CFPB or other law enforcers for committing unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices as well as other consumer financial protection violations.
“When Big Tech firms use sophisticated behavioral targeting techniques to market financial products, they must adhere to federal consumer financial protection laws,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Federal and state law enforcers can and should hold these firms accountable if they break the law."
Digital marketing providers have transformed advertising. Traditional advertising relies on getting a product or service out to as wide an audience as possible via a television or radio ad. Digital marketers, on the other hand, seek to maximize individuals’ interactions with ads. They may harvest personal data to feed their behavioral analytics models that can target individuals or groups that they predict are more likely to interact with an ad or sign up for a product or service.
When digital marketing providers go beyond traditional advertising, they are typically covered by the Consumer Financial Protection Act as service providers. The Act contains an exception for companies that solely provide time or space for an advertisement for a consumer financial product or service through print, newspaper, or electronic media. However, the CFPB recently noted that the exception does not cover firms that are materially involved in the development of content strategy.
Financial firms rely on the expertise and tools of digital marketing providers that offer sophisticated analytic techniques, aided by machine learning and advanced algorithms, to process large amounts of personal data and deliver highly targeted ads.
Financial firms use behavioral analytics to connect with potential customers. However, depending on how these practices are designed and implemented, behavioral marketing and advertising could subject firms to legal liability.