iHeartMedia aired 29,000 Pixel 4 testimonials — most hosts had never touched the phone

In 2019 and 2020 Google hired iHeartMedia — America's largest radio broadcaster — and 11 other radio networks to have personalities endorse the Pixel 4. Google supplied scripts detailing the hosts' own 'experiences' with the phone. In most cases the hosts were never given a Pixel 4, never owned one, and did not use one regularly. The ads ran in the first person anyway: 'It's my favorite phone camera out there, especially in low light, thanks to Night Sight mode.'

The FTC found that nearly 29,000 such deceptive first-person endorsements aired across ten major markets. On 9 February 2023 the Commission voted 4–0 to approve final consent orders barring Google and iHeartMedia from similar misrepresentations; separate judgments with seven states added $9.4 million in penalties. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey put the standard plainly: 'Consumers expect radio advertisements to be truthful and transparent about products, not misleading with fake endorsements.'

The case extended endorsement law — an endorser must actually have used what they praise — from Instagram back to broadcast radio. Google said it took compliance seriously; iHeartMedia declined to comment. The scripts came from Google, but the broadcaster put them on air as its hosts' own experience, and shared the order and the fine.