FTC OKs Final Order Against Company That Said App Boosts Vision; Co-Owner Says Research Valid

to OK the final order following a public comment period, issued an administrative complaint and proposed order in September. At the time, the company agreed to settle with the FTC. The commission said the company's ads for the Ultimeyes app falsely claimed that users' vision would improve. The order requires the company and owners Adam Goldberg and Aaron Seitz to provide "competent and reliable scientific evidence" before making such claims, the FTC said. The order also bars the company from misrepresenting any test, study or research. The defendants will pay $150,000 to the FTC. Seitz, a University of California, Riverside professor who conducts perceptual learning research, described the consent order as "chilling," saying it could have a negative impact on his reputation, scientific research, the "brain game" industry and on people who could benefit from such technology. Neither he nor Goldberg, the co-owner, financially gained from his 3-year-old company, Seitz said in an interview. And money they did receive went toward development of the app or to lawyers, he said. Additionally, Seitz said the FTC ignored the scientific research that was provided to it and also ignored the public comments, which he said strongly supported his research. He also said that the FTC is holding him to a higher standard in the consent agreement than it even held brain training company Lumosity, which agreed to settle allegations of deceptive advertising in January (see 1601050026). “We’re going to do what we can to move forward in a manner that has been crippled by the FTC,” he said.