FTC Finalizes $1.5M Order Against Publishing.com

The FTC just ordered Publishing.com to pay $1.5 million for misleading earnings claims in its self-publishing programs, and to back future earnings assertions with real substantiation. The final order, handed down after an April 2026 complaint, targets a scheme the agency says promised substantial online income from publishing ebooks and audiobooks but delivered little for most consumers. The two principals at the helm, CEO Christian Mikkelsen and Chief Product Officer Rasmus Mikkelsen, were named in the action, and the commission moved to curb their advertising and refund practices.

According to the FTC, Publishing.com represented that its services would help users earn substantial income, and that the founders personally used the system to generate significant wealth. In practice, the agency alleged, a large share of customers did not achieve the promised returns. The discrepancy between claims and outcomes is at the heart of the settlement, which requires the company and the Mikkelsens to pay $1.5 million and to substantiate any earnings claims going forward. The order also bars the specific misrepresentations laid out in the complaint, along with any other earnings claims that are misleading or lack a reasonable basis.

Beyond the earnings rhetoric, the FTC cited consumer refund problems. Some buyers who sought refunds encountered additional conditions buried in long terms of service or other fine print that made recourse difficult or effectively unavailable. This pattern, the agency argued, undermined consumer trust and left people with little recourse after investing in the programs. The commission noted another troubling practice: the disclosure of when reviews are written and by whom. The complaint alleged that certain testimonials came from employees or related parties and that the company offered incentives to people to provide favorable, and sometimes biased, reviews. The combination of opaque refund terms and biased testimonials, the FTC contends, fed into a misleading overall impression of the program’s value.

Compliance officers should take away several concrete implications from this action. First, earnings claims from any self-service publishing platform must be grounded in verifiable data and be able to withstand scrutiny. Second, testimonials and reviews cannot be used to mislead or to disguise the true risk and return profile of a product, especially when compensation or employment relationships influence those endorsements. Third, refund policies need to be straightforward and accessible, not hidden in lengthy terms that suppress consumer rights. Fourth, regulators are increasingly vigilant about marketing that pivots on personal wealth narratives tied to a founder’s claimed success.

What to watch next for practitioners involves two broad levers. The first is governance around marketing claims: ensure there is a documented, reproducible basis for any earnings promise, with regular reviews of performance data and independent substantiation. The second is enforcement-ready customer experience: simplify refunds, clearly disclose testimonial provenance, and separate paid endorsements from user-generated content so that consumer decisions are not distorted by hidden incentives. Taken together, the Publishing.com case signals that the FTC will continue to scrutinize not only what is promised in ads, but how those promises are supported, tested, and verified across the user journey.

The filing signals a clear boundary for digital publishing platforms and the executives who market them: earnings claims must be credible, testimonials must be transparent, and refunds must be straightforward, or face penalties and upfront financial consequences.