Supreme Court rejects Verizon bid for $47 million refund of FCC fine
Despite loss, carriers still claim selling device-location data isn't illegal.
The Supreme Court today rejected Verizon's attempt to get a $47 million refund from the Federal Communications Commission. In a list of orders issued by the court, Verizon's petition was denied without explanation.
The denial apparently ends any possibility of Verizon asking a lower court to review the fine and order the FCC to issue a refund. However, AT&T and T-Mobile are continuing to challenge similar fines on grounds that selling device-location data did not violate US telecom law.
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were fined a total of $196 million in 2024 for selling mobile users’ real-time location data without their customers' consent. The carriers sold device-location information to data aggregators, who resold it to other firms.