Razer

The Federal Trade Commission hit Razer with a $1.1 million fine Tuesday. The order claims that the gaming accessory maker misled consumers by claiming that its flashy Zephyr mask was certified as N95-grade.

Per the FTC, when Razer.com listed the Zephyr in 2021, it said that the mask offered “replaceable N95 Grade filters” and that Zephyr was “FDA-registered and lab-tested for 99 percent BFE [bacterial filtration efficiency]” and offered “greater protection compared to standard disposable/cloth masks, and filters air both inhaled and exhaled to safeguard you and others around you.” Razer’s site also reportedly said that the mask was “not tested specifically against the COVID-19 virus, but offers the same functionality and adequate protection due to its 99 percent BFE rating.”

PRESS RELEASE: Razer, Inc. to Pay More Than $1.1 Million for Misrepresenting the Performance and Efficacy of Supposed “N95-Grade” Zephyr Face Masks

According to the FTC, Razer falsely advertised their Zephyr face masks as N95-grade masks. That wasn’t true, and the masks were never certified as N95.

The sellers of a supposed N95-grade face mask called the Zephyr will pay more than $1.1 million to provide full refunds to consumers nationwide, as well as a civil penalty, under a proposed settlement the Federal Trade Commission announced today. The order settling the complaint also bars Razer, Inc., from making COVID-related health misrepresentations or unsubstantiated health claims about protective health equipment and requires them to pay a civil penalty of $100,000. In January 2025, the FTC announced it was returning more than $1 million to defrauded consumers.

Razer announced today that it plans to become carbon neutral by 2030, meaning it plans to reduce and offset its carbon dioxide emissions.

In August, security researcher Volodymyr Diachenko discovered a misconfigured Elasticsearch cluster, owned by gaming hardware vendor Razer, exposing customers’ PII (Personal Identifiable Information).

A judge questioned Razer's lawyers on whether they were contributorily negligent, given that Razer failed to respond to a security consultant's repeated warnings when the leak happened in 2020.

This case was the result of an investigation performed by California Energy Commission (CEC) staff. CEC’s investigation and testing process identified that Razer was manufacturing and offering for sale mobile gaming systems that did not meet the efficiency standard and were not certified to the Modernized Appliance Efficiency Database System (MAEDbS).