Accessibe, a company known for its web accessibility plugins, promised to make any website accessible with just a single line of code. They claimed that 30% of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA could be achieved instantly, with the remaining 70% completed within 48 hours, thanks to advanced artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, in reality, this promise often falls short, as the automatic image recognition feature can make mistakes. This has resulted in Accessibe facing a fine of one million US dollars.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the consumer protection agency in the United States, took notice of Accessibe’s unfulfilled advertising promises. The FTC investigated the matter and also criticized another aspect of Accessibe’s business practice: the company allegedly presented endorsements from third parties as independent opinions without disclosing that there were significant relationships between the authors and the Israeli-American company.
Now, the FTC and Accessibe are jointly seeking a court order that would prevent Accessibe from making these advertising claims unless they can provide evidence of the promised performance. Additionally, Accessibe must not hide its relationships with reviewers or create the impression of their independence. Accessibe is also required to pay the FTC one million dollars. Any further violations could result in fines of up to 51,744 dollars.
The FTC can use this money to provide refunds to customers who were misled. The plugin is available starting at 49 US dollars per month for websites with a maximum of 1,000 pages. Operators of larger sites pay more, for example, 349 dollars for up to 100,000 pages.
An example from the court documents shows that instead of providing a correct image description, the Accessibe plugin fed a screen reader with a garbled string of characters. This is tempting because web accessibility is not only important for search engine optimization but also legally required. In North America, this has been the case for a long time, and in the European Union, it will be mandatory starting June 28. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will be implemented in Germany through the Barrier-Free Strengthening Act (BFSG) and in Austria through the Barrier-Free Act (BaFG). These new rights stem from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in 2008. In Germany, there will be costly warnings for non-compliance. Proper implementation requires more than an AI plugin; it needs tests with affected individuals in addition to automated checks.
The FTC commissioners unanimously approved the settlement negotiated with Accessibe (Case No. 222-3156). It will now be published in the US Federal Register, and after a 30-day public consultation period, the FTC will vote on it again.
The FTC’s complaint includes examples of the Accessibe plugin’s errors.
Web accessibility is crucial in web development, and testing with affected individuals is essential to ensure practical accessibility.