PayPal’s Venmo must be more transparent with users, says FTC

Information about privacy controls, extent of security under fire

Venmo, the payments app owned by PayPal, has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it misled users about some of its practices.

Under the settlement, Venmo cannot misrepresent restrictions on the use of its service, what privacy controls its users have, or the extent of security it provides to users, the FTC announced Tuesday.

Venmo, which allows people to pay one another for meals, rent and more via a mobile app, had been accused of not making it clear to its users that their fund transfers might be delayed.

“Consumers suffered real harm when Venmo did not live up to the promises it made to users about the availability of their money,” Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen said in a statement.

Venmo also faced allegations related to its privacy settings. The app has a social-networking component — transactions between users can be publicly viewable on a feed, be seen among friends or be kept private. The company was accused of misleading users about how to keep their transactions private.

In addition, the FTC accused Venmo of misrepresenting how secure its app is, saying the company “at least until 2015” claimed it used “bank-grade security systems.”

The FTC said Venmo violated safeguarding and privacy laws, and will be subject to an outside review for compliance every other year.

A PayPal spokeswoman pointed out Wednesday that the settlement carried no monetary fine.

“This brings to an end the investigation that included a focus on Venmo platform issues and practices prior to acquisition by PayPal,” Amanda Miller said in an emailed

statement. “Since then, as a core part of PayPal’s and Venmo’s business and operations,

we’ve taken steps to significantly strengthen our privacy and data security practices.”

However, according to the FTC’s settlement announcement, each violation of its orders — which

are scheduled to be finalized after March 29 — carries a “a civil penalty of up to $41,484.”

PayPal bought Venmo in 2013. The payments app handled $10.4 billion in payment volume in the

fourth quarter, PayPal CEO Daniel Schulman said at a conference this week — during which he also said that PayPal hopes to “monetize” Venmo one day, according to a Bloomberg report.