EyeBobs settles over controversial AccessiBe AI accessibility overlay

Online eyewear retailer Eyebobs settled with a customer who had sued the company for failing to provide users of its website with screen readers of equal access to its services, and for misleading marketing.

Plaintiff Anthony Hammond Murphy, a blind man, alleged that Eyebobs’ website was inaccessible to blind individuals using screen reader software, which he claimed violated the effective communication and equal access requirements of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

But Eyebobs had installed an accessibility overlay on their digital platform developed by AccessiBe, an Israel-based web accessibility start-up that claimed to make websites for people with disabilities easier to use by providing an 'automated, state-of-the-art AI technology'. The overlay was supposed to automatically bring the website into compliance with the ADA by resolving underlying accessibility issues. However, the plaintiff claimed that the overlay failed to provide full and equal access to screen reader users.

The lawsuit was filed as a class action, representing an entire class of people who may have been similarly limited by Eyebobs’ website inaccessibility, and was settled with a consent decree from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania2. As part of the settlement, Eyebobs agreed to an extensive accessibility programme with mandatory reporting and was required to pay USD 16,000 in legal fees.

This case had significant implications for digital accessibility and the use of AI technology like AccessiBe’s overlay solution.

➕ Over 600 blind people, accessibility advocates and software developers had previously signed an open letter calling on website operators to stop using AccessiBe and similar companies.

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

• https://www.adatitleiii.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/121/2021/01/Murphy-v.-Eyebobs.pdf

• https://www.eyebobsadasettlement.com/docs/Eyebobs%20-%20Settlement%20Agreement.pdf

• https://www.scribd.com/document/490740167/Exhibit-A-for-21-cv-00017

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Overlay Fact Sheet

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.law.com/thelegalintelligencer/2021/10/07/judge-approves-ada-class-action-settlement-against-eyewear-company-over-websites-lack-of-visibility/

• https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/blind-people-advocates-slam-company-claiming-make-websites-ada-compliant-n1266720

• https://www.wired.com/story/company-tapped-ai-website-landed-court/

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/gusalexiou/2021/10/28/why-automated-tools-alone-cant-make-your-website-accessible-and-legally-compliant/

• https://www.lflegal.com/2021/11/overlay-legal-update/

• https://uxdesign.cc/important-settlement-in-an-ada-lawsuit-involving-an-accessibility-overlay-748a82850249