CFPB Orders Tech Firms to Hand Over Information on Digital Payment Systems

On October 21, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered various big tech companies operating digital payment systems – including Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, PayPal, and Square – to provide information on how they handle data regarding user payments. The agency indicated that it plans to use the data to evaluate whether existing consumer protections are adequate. The types of data requested by the CFPB include information on data harvesting and monetization, access restrictions and user choice, as well as other consumer protections such as compliance under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. The series of orders is the first major move by the agency since the confirmation of its new director, Rohit Chopra. Read the agency’s full statement here.