The Federal Trade Commission slammed Razer with a $1.1 million fine on Tuesday. The ruling asserts that the gaming accessory manufacturer deceived customers by certifying their gaudy Zephyr mask as N95-grade.
“These businesses falsely claimed, in the middle of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of a N95-certified respirator,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Projection. “The FTC will continue to hold accountable businesses that use false and unsubstantiated claims to target consumers who are making decisions about their health and safety.”
Razer has, as was to be expected, responded to the commission’s assertions.
“We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement,” an official from the firm told Eltrys. We never meant to mislead anybody, and we decided to settle this to keep our attention on making excellent gaming goods and to save ourselves the trouble and interruption of litigation. Razer is continuously trying to present technology in novel and relevant ways because it really cares about our community.
The company continued by asserting that it skewed the complaint, made a special effort to reimburse customers, and stopped selling the Zephyr.
The statement states that Razer designed the Zephyr to provide the community with a unique and innovative face-covering option. The FTC brought lawsuits against Razer for specific parts of several of the Zephyr-related statements. Razer halted sales, reimbursed consumers, and proactively informed them more than two years ago that the Zephyr was not a N95 mask.
Officially, the FTC is prohibiting the mask’s sales, as well as “making COVID-related health misrepresentations or unsubstantiated health claims about protective health equipment.” It goes one better, “prohibiting [the defendants] from representing the health benefits, performance, efficacy, safety, or side effects of protective goods and services (as defined in the proposed order), unless they have competent and reliable scientific evidence to support the claims made.”
According to the lawsuit, Razer purposefully misled buyers into thinking the $100 mask would shield them from COVID-19. Indeed, the infection was a major concern when Razer first released the product in October 2021.
A District Court judge’s permission and signature are still pending for the directive.
