What happened
DoNotPay sold a subscription service that it promoted as an AI lawyer for consumer legal tasks.
The FTC said the company did not test whether its AI matched a human lawyer’s performance and did not hire or retain attorneys to test its law-related features.
The case was one of five actions in Operation AI Comply, an FTC sweep against deceptive AI claims announced on September 25, 2024.
What happened next
The Commission voted 5-0 on January 16, 2025, to approve the final order. DoNotPay must pay $193,000, notify past subscribers and may not claim its service performs like a real lawyer without evidence.
Legal or regulatory result
FTC final order announced February 11, 2025 (press release).
What would have stopped it
- Keep the agent’s capability claims in a fixed, reviewed list and block claims about replacing licensed professionals.
- Test the product against every claim in its marketing before publishing, and keep the evidence.
- Block guarantees of outcomes in sales conversations.
Attack families
Test scenarios
Sources
- FTC: FTC finalizes order with DoNotPay
- FTC: FTC announces crackdown on deceptive AI claims and schemes
This page summarizes the cited sources as of October 21, 2026. It adds no findings of our own about any person or company. See an error? Email contact@counterhold.com with the subject “Correction”. Corrections are noted on this page with their date. See our terms for how we handle correction and removal requests.
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