Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to settle securities fraud charges with App Annie for engaging in “deceptive practices and making material misrepresentations” about how its alternative data was derived between 2014 and 2018.

This is the first enforcement action that the SEC has brought against an alternative data vendor, which therefore means industry participants will be watching closely to understand how the decision could affect the industry for years to come. 

We have compiled six major lessons that data buyers should take from this case, based on our analysis of the SEC filing, which you can find below.