Lumosity hit with $2 million fine over 'brain training' ads

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Under a $2 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Lumos Labs, the company behind Lumosity and its "brain training" games, will make redress payments to customers and make it easier for them to cancel auto-renewal of the service.

In a statement released Tuesday, Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said Lumosity "preyed on consumers' fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer's disease. But Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.