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Brain Game Maker Lumosity Fined $2 Million For False Advertising (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: Lumos Labs, the company that produces the popular 'brain-training' program Lumosity, yesterday agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for running deceptive advertisements. Lumos had claimed that its online games can help users perform better at work and in school, and stave off cognitive deficits associated with serious diseases such as Alzheimer's, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress.
The $2 million settlement will be used to compensate Lumosity consumers who were misled by false advertising, says Michelle Rusk, a spokesperson with the FTC in Washington, D.C. The company will also be required to provide an easy way to cancel auto-renewal billing for the service, which includes online and mobile app subscriptions, with payments ranging from $14.95 monthly to lifetime memberships for $299.95. Before consumers can access the games, a pop-up screen will alert them to the FTC's order and allow them to avoid future billing, Rusk says.
The $2 million settlement will be used to compensate Lumosity consumers who were misled by false advertising, says Michelle Rusk, a spokesperson with the FTC in Washington, D.C. The company will also be required to provide an easy way to cancel auto-renewal billing for the service, which includes online and mobile app subscriptions, with payments ranging from $14.95 monthly to lifetime memberships for $299.95. Before consumers can access the games, a pop-up screen will alert them to the FTC's order and allow them to avoid future billing, Rusk says.
They did get away with it, https://gigaom.com/2013/01/31/...
give me $24 Mil in revenue a year, I will gladly pay a one off $2 Mill fine, change my wording slightly e.g. stick the word "may" in it somewhere and continue trading as normal.
They shouldn't make false claims, but doing so doesn't invalidate the system. I was very, very slowly recovering from a concussion when I finally felt well enough to try Lumosity. My neurologist unenthusiastically recommended it over BrainHQ ("If you must try one of those things, at least use the one that works." He's not big into "new-age" cures like nutrition, either, just drugs with horrible side effects and patience.) Within a week, I started to see real improvement in my ability to concentrate and change focus between tasks. I've been doing it every day for about 7 weeks and have inched up in the percentile scores from the teens to the nineties (I'm an Anonymous Bragger, too). It could be a coincidence or just part of a number of factors including the simple passage of time. I suspect that Lumosity helped. It's also elegantly designed and fun. Last week, I contacted Lumosity to be part of their research on using their games for folks with concussions.
I've paid for a one-year subscription, which was about the same amount as four monthly payments. It seemed clear even in my foggy state that the games were intended for people with healthy brains. (Of course, they may have adjusted their claims after the lawsuit started.) They didn't promise help with concussions. I hope they are able to prove that it does.
If you are interested in learning more about neuroplasticity, read Norman Doidge. Clark Elliott's book The Ghost in My Brain is a harrowing tale of an AI professor with a concussion much worse than mine.