Relevant news for anyone with massive brunch bills to divvy up: the popular money-swapping app Venmo is under the investigation of the Federal Trade Commission, according to a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission posted by the app on Thursday. Venmo, a Paypal-owned company, reported that they received a Civil Investigative Demand this past March. To anyone who is unclear about what a Civil Investigative Demand entails, it's when the Attorney General has reason to believe that a person or enterprise has documentation "relevant to a racketeering investigation," and serves an order for the documents to be produced. Venmo has since responded to the FTC's investigation with the SEC filing reporting holdings, statements, and other financial documents.
Bustle reached out to Venmo for comment on the investigation, which was confirmed by the FTC shortly after the SEC filing was submitted.
"As a global payments provider, we are completely aligned with regulators in their efforts to ensure that consumers have positive experiences when using our services," wrote Global Head of Corporate Media Relations Amanda Christine Miller. "We consult and collaborate with regulators and work hard to comply with laws and regulations in the markets where we do business, around the world. We are cooperating fully with the Federal Trade Commission to address their requests for information."
Venmo, first released in 2009, has since gained huge popularity as a money charging and paying app and even a pseudo form of social media. Users can link their debit cards, credit cards, and bank accounts to make secure exchanges. The platform is well known for its convenience and the ability to send cheeky emoji back and forth with monetary exchanges, a distinctive pattern of communication all too familiar to anyone who has ever scrolled down and peeked in on anyone's business on their Venmo newsfeed, which displays exchanges between mutual friends.
As of right now, Venmo's app is still available to users and has no plans of interrupting service.
Images: Pexels; Venmo/Instagram
