CMG Media Corporation

What was sold

CMG Media Corporation, which does business as Cox Media Group, marketed a service branded “Active Listening” to small businesses. According to three FTC complaints announced on 21 May 2026, the pitch was that a proprietary algorithm listened in real time to conversations picked up by consumers’ smart devices, then targeted advertising to people in the buyer’s chosen geographic area.

Two smaller marketing firms resold it to their own customers: New Hampshire based MindSift LLC and Wisconsin based 1010 Digital Works LLC.

What the FTC found

The complaints allege the service did not listen to anything. It used no voice data at all, and it did not accurately place ads in the locations buyers asked for.

What buyers were actually receiving, according to the FTC, was email lists obtained from other data brokers and resold at a significant markup.

The agency separately alleges all three firms told potential customers that consumers had opted in to Active Listening. They had not. The companies treated clicking through an app’s mandatory terms of service as consent, which the FTC states does not constitute opt-in consent for collecting voice data from inside someone’s home. The FTC noted that had the service worked as advertised, collecting that data without adequate consent would itself have violated Section 5 of the FTC Act.

MindSift and 1010 Digital Works were each charged with a second count for supplying CMG with the “means and instrumentalities” to deceive customers, through marketing materials, sales pitches, and answers to customer questions.

What was ordered

Under proposed consent orders, CMG pays $880,000 and MindSift and 1010 Digital Works pay $25,000 each, a total of $930,000, to be used as redress for affected CMG customers. All three are barred from misrepresenting the qualities of their advertising services, the collection and use of voice data and consumer consent to it, and their geographic targeting capabilities.

The Commission voted 2-0 to issue the complaints and accept the agreements.

Why this one matters beyond the parties

This is a clean example of a pattern buyers should learn to recognise. The underlying product was an ordinary commodity, resold email lists available from many vendors, priced and sold as a novel AI capability. The deception was not in the data. It was in the label attached to it.

What is not established

Consent orders settle allegations without any admission or finding of wrongdoing. At the time of writing the orders were proposed and subject to a 30 day public comment period before the Commission decides whether to finalise them.

We have not yet contacted CMG, MindSift, or 1010 Digital Works for comment. When we do, the attempt and any response will appear on this entry.