In a letter sent to FTC Chair Lina Khan last week, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo and Senator Ron Wyden urged the agency to turn toward VPN providers’ questionable—and often abusive—advertising techniques, which tend to exaggerate the level of security VPNs can provide. Many VPN ads make claims of “total anonymity” and “military-grade encryption,” the first of which should be regarded with skepticism and the second of which doesn’t exist at all, according to the letter. Providers have also been caught abusing access to customers’ data, which in many ways defeats the purpose of using a VPN in the first place.
“In 2020 it was revealed that a leading analytics firm used personal data from over 35 million people who had downloaded one of their 20 VPN and ad-blocking apps to power their analytics platform without consent,” Eshoo and Wyden wrote. “Notably, the apps didn’t reveal their connection to the analytics firm.” A separate study found that 75 percent of the Android VPN apps shared users’ personal data with third party tracking companies; 82 percent requested access to users’ “sensitive resources,” like user accounts and text message logs.
NordVPN is just one of several VPN providers that claims to offer “military-grade encryption.”
Digital privacy has always been important, but the letter’s timing is intentional. Eshoo and Wyden referred specifically to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as they urged the FTC to use its authority to “take enforcement actions” against hyperbolic VPN advertising. The Supreme Court’s controversial ruling allowed individual states to determine to which degree abortion should be legal (or otherwise), which set the stage for half the US to criminalize or severely restrict the medical procedure. These circumstances have pushed digital privacy to the top of people’s priority lists as they seek out ways to safeguard their reproductive health data.
Meanwhile, VPN providers are making their products look like one-stop shops for digital anonymity when the stakes of exaggerated advertising are higher than ever. “…people seeking abortion are increasingly told that installing a VPN is an important step for protecting themselves when seeking information on abortion in states that have outlawed and criminalized abortion,” the lawmakers’ letter reads. “It’s extremely difficult for someone to decipher which VPN service to trust, especially for those in crisis situations.”
Deceptive advertising hasn’t just impacted healthcare recipients on the VPN front. As soon as Roe v. Wade was overturned, a number of period trackers and miscellaneous health apps jumped on the opportunity to use people’s anxieties to their advantage. Many claimed to keep users’ data secure while refusing to acknowledge or resolve the holes in their privacy policies. The sudden uptick in digital privacy concerns might signal a widespread need for education on the matter, especially if advertisements are many Americans’ first foray into personal data protection. In fact, the letter sent to the FTC requests educational resources: “We also urge the FTC to develop a brochure for abortion-seekers on how best to protect their data, including a clear outline of the risks and benefits of VPN usage.”
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