October 2021 • Issue 4, Volume 12 • www.consumer-action.org Click here to view this email in a web browser What people are saying I am on a retirement budget and I depend on your information to hel
In the United Kingdom, the Age Appropriate Design Code--aka the Children's Code--recently took effect. Why should Americans care? Because it's caused major technology platforms to establish new guardrails to protect kids online, and not just in England! The rule, which provides a high level of online privacy for young users by default, has prompted major platforms to make huge changes. YouTube will turn off default auto-play on videos and block ad-targeting and personalization for all children; TikTok will stop sending notifications after 9 p.m. for 13-to-15-year-olds and after 10 p.m. for 16- and 17-year-olds; and Instagram is preventing adults from messaging children who do not follow them, and defaulting all children's accounts to private (requiring users to enter their date of birth to log in). For more about these ripples "across the pond," read articles in the Guardian and WIRED and on the BBC's website.
Consumer Action will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next month with a virtual Changemakers Convening and our annual Consumer Excellence Awards ceremony. Both events will shine a light on how much has been accomplished by advocates and allies over the past five decades. Read more.
Before you drive away down the highway in a rented vehicle, make sure you understand who is paying for any tolls you encounter. One woman had to spend hours on the phone untangling confusing toll charges. Read more.
Consumer Action often joins its allies in letters, comments and complaints calling for change, standing up for consumer rights, supporting or opposing proposed laws and objecting to corporate misbehavior, among other activities. We collect these in the Coalition Efforts section of our website. Each month in the INSIDER, we highlight some recent activities. Read more.
In this regular feature, we detail recent actions taken by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This month, the Bureau reins in a lender who is a repeat offender, proposes ways to verify if minority-owned small businesses are getting access to credit, and clarifies that an income share agreement is a loan. Read more.
Consumer Action maintains a database of class actions so that interested consumers can learn more, join a pending action or make a claim. Class action lawsuits are an important element of consumer protection and can force changes to anti-consumer business practices and make bad actors return ill-gotten gains to consumers. Read more.
Consumer Action has been a champion of underrepresented consumers nationwide since 1971. A nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, Consumer Action focuses on consumer education that empowers low- and moderate-income and limited-English-speaking consumers to financially prosper. It also advocates for consumers in the media and before lawmakers to advance consumer rights and promote industry-wide change.
By providing consumer education materials in multiple languages, a free national hotline, a comprehensive website and special reports about financial and consumer services, Consumer Action helps consumers assert their rights in the marketplace and make financially savvy choices. More than 6,000 community and grassroots organizations benefit annually from its extensive outreach programs, training materials and support. Read more.
