Supreme Court Backs FCC Power to Fine Privacy Violators

Your phone company can't escape consequences for selling your location data, the Supreme Court confirmed today in a ruling that keeps critical consumer protections in place.

AT&T and Verizon tried to dodge $104 million in fines for selling customers' real-time location data without consent. They claimed the Federal Communications Commission violated their right to a jury trial by issuing penalties through its investigation process.

The Supreme Court disagreed. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the carriers could have gotten jury trials if they'd refused to pay and let the government collect through the courts. The 8-1 decision reversed an earlier appeals court ruling that had favored AT&T.

The violations date back to 2018, when investigators discovered the carriers had sold access to customer location data that bounty hunters and even a rogue sheriff used to track people without their knowledge. The FCC investigated and proposed the penalties in 2024.

AT&T and Verizon argued that even the public announcement of fines damaged their reputation, effectively forcing them to pay without a trial. The justices weren't buying it.

"Reputational harm may befall any party in the preliminary stage of a legal proceeding, and this has never been thought to pose a Seventh Amendment problem," the court wrote.

The Bright Side

This ruling does more than settle one privacy case. It preserves the FCC's ability to investigate corporate wrongdoing and propose meaningful penalties that protect everyday Americans.

Without this enforcement power, the agency tasked with protecting consumers would lose one of its best tools for holding powerful companies accountable. "The Supreme Court got this one right," said John Bergmayer from consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge.

During arguments, Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that carriers won important clarity anyway. The government acknowledged its orders aren't binding without court enforcement, meaning companies always have a path to jury trials if they choose to fight.

The decision sends a clear message: corporations can't sell your private data, then hide behind legal technicalities when caught. Consumer privacy protections just got a lot stronger.