WSJ Tech News Briefing
TNB Tech Minute: FTC Orders Instacart to Pay $60 Million Over Deceptive Practices
18 Dec 2025
Plus: An Iran-linked hacker group targeted a former Israeli prime minister. And defense group Rheinmetall partners with satellite operator ICEYE to supply German armed forces with space reconnaissance. Julie Chang hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
For government and business leaders, AI isn't the future. It's the force reshaping today. The Tech Guide helps organizations move from exploration to execution. Check out the Tech Guide, available now at GuideHouse.com.
Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Thursday, December 18th. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. Instacart has been ordered to pay $60 million in refunds to customers to settle allegations from the Federal Trade Commission that it used deceptive practices to raise costs for shoppers.
The FTC alleged that the grocery delivery platform falsely advertised free delivery and 100% satisfaction guarantee and also didn't adequately disclose the terms for Instacart Plus membership. The FTC claimed consumers were still charged a service fee for deliveries and said that Instacart's satisfaction guarantee implied a refund to unsatisfied customers, which the company didn't do.
Instacart denies the allegations. An Iranian-linked hacker group leaked sensitive personal data belonging to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett this week, including chat messages and a contact list that featured several world leaders.
The breach is part of a growing wave of hack-and-link operations targeting Israeli officials and government agencies since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. These attacks have compromised data from the Justice Ministry, the Ministry of National Security, and hospital medical records.
Experts note a huge uptick in these less sophisticated attacks, which often target out-of-date or unpatched security systems, or use phishing. Israeli officials expect Iranian cyberattacks to continue as they give Iran a way to fight without escalating to all-out war.
And defense group Rheinmetall has said it will team up with satellite operator ISI to supply the German armed forces with space-based reconnaissance data. The roughly $2 billion contract will provide images through its satellite constellation.
Rheinmetall said the data would mainly be used to protect the German armed forces' Lithuania brigade and secure NATO's eastern flank at a time when tensions with Russia remain high. Production of the first joint venture satellites is scheduled to start in the third quarter of next year. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Friday's Tech News Briefing podcast.
Every organization, government or commercial, is being asked to deliver more with less. Technology is undeniably the key to making that possible.
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Chapter 2: What deceptive practices led to Instacart's $60 million FTC settlement?
We invite you to explore the insights in the Tech Guide, available now at GuideHouse.com.