Information Regarding Avast’s Settlement with the FTC

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the United States' consumer protection agency, alleges that from August 2014 to January 2020, Avast, misrepresented how it would share browsing information collected from some of its products, specifically how it would share information in a deidentified form with its subsidiary Jumpshot. The FTC further alleges that Jumpshot sold some of that browsing information to over a hundred companies. Avast shut down Jumpshot in January 2020.

The FTC alleges that if you were a user of Avast or AVG software during that period, you may have been deceived by Avast's representations. The FTC further alleges that, in some cases, the data Avast shared with Jumpshot was not aggregated or fully anonymized before Jumpshot sold it, and in some cases, Jumpshot sold the data in a form that could have allowed third parties to link back browsing information to you or your devices.

What are we doing

On June 26, 2024 we entered into a settlement with the FTC to resolve these allegations. You can learn about the case here: https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/2023033-avast. As agreed in that settlement:

• Avast will delete the Jumpshot data. We will delete all browsing information from Jumpshot' s databases and have reached out to the companies that bought data from Jumpshot, to ask that they do the same.
• Avast will narrowly limit who it shares your data with. The settlement with the FTC prohibits Avast from selling or sharing your browsing information for third-party advertising purposes.

How can you learn more

If you have any further questions or concerns, please email [email protected] email address or call 1-866-588-5089. We will get back to you within three business days.

The AVG Team