The FTC bans GM from selling driver behavior and geolocation data to consumer reporting agencies for five years, after finding GM didn't properly inform drivers
GM must now obtain explicit user consent and offer an option to delete data, ensuring greater transparency and privacy for customers. Lilian Edwards / @lilianedwards : Even as she leaves office Lina Khan does more with less than EU DP regulators — www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/t... Jon Keegan / @jonkeegan.com : FTC orders General Motors / OnStar to stop sharing geolocation and driving data with credit reporting agencies for five years. — The agency alleges that enrollment for OnStar was “confusing and misleading”, and failed to clearly disclose details of its data collection. — sherwood.news/power/ftc-or... X: Kyle Russell / @kylebrussell : If you're an unsafe driver that doesn't have to be priced in until you ruin someone's life Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : @FTC @matthewstoller Thanks. That was scummy of GM. @ftc : Under proposed order, GM and OnStar will be banned for five years from disclosing geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies /2 Forums: Hacker News : GM banned from sharing driving and location data with insurance companies r/vegaslocals : GM banned from selling your driving data for five years - The Verge r/technology : GM banned from selling your driving data for five years. r/privacy : GM banned from selling your driving data for five years BeauHD / Slashdot : GM Banned From Selling Your Driving Data For Five Years
Context & Ripple Effects
GM's connected-car data practices had already drawn scrutiny after the company said it had stopped sharing driving data with two brokers, following reports of unclear consent. Earlier coverage also described app-based driving-score features offered by GM and other automakers that could feed broker relationships.
The FTC action turns that scrutiny into a specific constraint on GM and OnStar: it targets the disclosure pathway to consumer reporting agencies and the enrollment design that the agency says obscured data collection. It follows reports that a Smart Driver enrollment bug gave customers misleading status information, making consent mechanics central rather than incidental.
First-order effects
- GM and OnStar cannot sell or disclose driver-behavior and geolocation data to consumer reporting agencies for five years, removing that outlet for the data immediately.
- GM must obtain explicit consent and provide deletion options, requiring changes to OnStar enrollment, disclosures, and customer-data controls.
Second-order effects
- Consumer reporting agencies lose access to GM/OnStar driving and location data, while GM must rely on clearer consent flows before any permitted downstream data use.
- Other automakers offering driving-score features face a sharper benchmark for whether enrollment and disclosure practices can withstand FTC scrutiny, especially after GM halted sharing with two data brokers.
Third-order effects
- Connected-car data monetization is likely to shift from broadly framed feature enrollment toward auditable, purpose-specific consent and deletion systems; the durability of that shift will depend on whether enforcement reaches other manufacturers and intermediaries.
- The case strengthens privacy governance as a product-design issue for vehicle software, not merely a compliance review after data has been collected.
The trend: Regulators are increasingly treating connected-vehicle telemetry as sensitive consumer data whose commercial use depends on demonstrable, granular consent.