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    Federal judge dismisses false advertising claims against Wendy’s, McDonald’s

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1327 Views
    The McDonald's restaurant logo and golden arch is lit up, April 20, 2006, in Chicago. On Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, a federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit that accused McDonald’s and Wendy’s of misleading consumers with ads that show bigger, juicier burgers than their restaurants actually serve. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

    By Dee-Ann Durbin

    --

    A federal judge in New York has dismissed a lawsuit that accused McDonald's and Wendy's of misleading consumers with ads that show bigger, juicier burgers than their restaurants actually serve.

    In an opinion released over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Hector Gonzalez said the images on the companies' websites __ which the plaintiff was challenging __ note the weight of the meat and the calories each burger contains.

    Gonzalez also said the plaintiff, Justin Chimienti, failed to prove that a reasonable customer would be misled by the ads. Gonzalez said the ads are considered "puffery," akin to other companies' use of models to make their products more visually appealing.

    Wendy's and McDonald's didn't immediately respond to messages left Tuesday seeking comment.

    The suit was one of several false advertising lawsuits filed recently against fast food companies by New York attorney James Kelly. A message seeking comment from Kelly was left Tuesday by The Associated Press.

    In August, a federal judge in Florida refused to dismiss a class action lawsuit Kelly filed against Burger King claiming that the company's ads overstate the amount of meat in its Whopper burger and other sandwiches. Kelly has also sued Taco Bell and Arby's.

    Lawsuits accusing food and beverage companies of misleading customers __ for putting fewer chips than expected in a bag or advertising artificial flavors as real "vanilla," for example __ have grown more common in recent years.

    Perkins Coie, a law firm that tracks class action suits, said 214 were filed against food and beverage companies in 2022 and 101 were filed in the first six months of this year. That's a big increase from 2010, when just 45 were filed.

    Dee-Ann Durbin is an AP business writer

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    Tags:False AdvertisingMcDonald'sWendy's



    EU accuses TikTok of “addictive design” that harms children, seeks changes to protect users

    Friday, February 6, 2026
    The icon for the TikTok video sharing app is seen on a smartphone in Marple Township, Pa., Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

    The European Union on Friday accused TikTok of breaching the bloc's digital rules with "addictive design" features that lead to compulsive use by children, in preliminary charges that strike at the heart of the popular video sharing app's operating model.

    EU regulators said their two-year investigation found that TikTok hasn't done enough to assess how features such as autoplay and infinite scroll could harm the physical and mental health of users, including minors and "vulnerable adults."

    The European Commission said it believes TikTok should change the "basic design" of its service. The commission is the EU's executive arm and enforcer of the 27-nation bloc's Digital Services Act, a sweeping rulebook that requires social media companies to clean up their platforms and protect users, under threat of hefty fines.

    TikTok denied the accusations.

    "The Commission's preliminary findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to challenge these findings through every means available to us," the company said in a statement.

    TikTok's features including infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, and highly personalized recommender systems "lead to the compulsive use of the app, especially for our kids, and this poses major risks to their mental health and wellbeing," Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a press briefing in Brussels.

    "The measures that TikTok has in place are simply not enough," he said.

    The company now has a chance to defend itself and reply to the commission's findings. Regnier said "if they don't do this properly," Brussels could issue a so-called non-compliance decision and possible fine worth up to 6% of... Read More

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