The number of US web accessibility lawsuits has grown 15% in 2021, with more than 10 such cases now filed everyday.
New research by UsableNet shows the ways lazy, often nonexistent, accessibility features on websites continue to make retailers vulnerable to a growing wave of web accessibility lawsuits. And so far, the courts are not offering much guidance to retailers.
'Retailers face the bulk of web accessibility lawsuits for several reasons,' says Jason Taylor, CIO at UsableNet. 'Among the causes are the complexity of retail sites and the enormous number of changes they undergo daily, the complexity and rate of change increase the chances for merchants to make mistakes updating their sites or adding third-party technology.' he says.
William Goren an attorney who specializes in ADA-related issues, says the best defense is for retailers to design their websites with accessibility in mind. As a guide, he says merchants and their web designers follow the World Wide Web Consortium’s widely used Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 2.1 (WCAG 2.1)
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