Influencers were paid by Google to promote a Pixel phone they never used

The US's biggest radio station operator, iHeartMedia, is being hit with a false advertising lawsuit for ads they ran about the phone, which we found to be overpriced and full of half-working experiments. According to the FTC and four states, the companies aired nearly 29,000 deceptive endorsements by radio personalities. The companies will have to pay $9.4 million in fines.

Google's ads had on-air personalities give first-hand accounts of how much they liked the Pixel 4, but, to quote the FTC's press release, "the on-air personalities were not provided with Pixel 4s before recording and airing the majority of the ads and therefore did not own or regularly use the phones." Therefore the first-person claims made in the ads, like, “It’s my favorite phone camera out there, especially in low light, thanks to Night Sight Mode,” “I’ve been taking studio-like photos of everything,” and “It’s also great at helping me get stuff done, thanks to the new voice-activated Google Assistant that can handle multiple tasks at once,” can't be true.

If these ads were not in first-person, everything would have been fine. People put more stock in first-hand experiences. Radio advertisements are supposed to be honest and transparent about products. Compliance with state and federal law will be ensured as a result of today's settlement.

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"We are pleased to resolve this issue," said a person from the search engine giant. We take compliance with advertising laws very seriously and have processes in place to make sure we follow the rules.

As part of the settlement, iHeartMedia is not allowed to make misrepresentations about their experience with certain products. After the public comment period is over, the commission will vote on the proposed consent orders.