Do overlays really make you compliant? What the evidence says
Anyone dealing with the BFSG, EAA or WCAG quickly runs into a tempting offer: an overlay widget that’s supposed to deliver accessibility at the push of a button. Installed in minutes, no code, “automatically compliant”. The only question is: is that true?
The short answer is: an overlay alone does not make your website legally compliant — and that’s no longer just the opinion of individual experts but officially confirmed. The longer answer is more nuanced, because overlays aren’t worthless. Let’s take a closer look.
What an overlay actually is
An accessibility overlay is a small piece of JavaScript you embed in your website. It usually shows a control bar through which visitors can adjust things: font size, contrast, a read-aloud function, hiding animations. Some overlays additionally try to “repair” errors automatically in the background.
The first part of that is sensible: an on-screen menu that gives users more control over the presentation helps many people right away. Welcoma offers such a menu too. The crux lies in the second part — and in what is promised about it.
Compliance isn’t a button you press
WCAG conformance means that the underlying content and code of your page meet certain testable criteria: images have meaningful alt text, form fields are labelled, everything is keyboard operable, headings are logically structured. An overlay lays itself over this page — it doesn’t change the underlying problems. A page with broken keyboard operation stays broken, even if an accessibility symbol blinks in the top right.
There’s also a subtle but important difference: a website can technically conform to the WCAG criteria — legal compliance is something else again and carries real responsibility. Those who promise one often mean the other and can’t deliver it.
The case that sums it up: accessiBe
In January 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) acted against accessiBe — one of the best-known overlay providers. The allegation: the company had misrepresented that its AI-powered widget could make any website WCAG-compliant. In April 2025 the order became final. To settle the allegations — without admitting fault — accessiBe paid one million US dollars and may no longer claim that its automatic product makes websites WCAG-compliant unless it can prove it.
accessiBe’s own testers found errors on nearly every website they checked.
From the FTC complaint against accessiBe, 2025
The details of the complaint are especially telling. According to the FTC, the widget failed on numerous sites to make basic building blocks like menus, headings, tables and images accessible. Manual tests showed that pages with the overlay failed WCAG Levels A and AA. In places the overlay even created new barriers: missing focus markers, keyboard traps, wrong heading levels — and automatically generated alt text that was simply wrong. A much-cited example: a photo of a steak on a plate was described by the overlay as “Brown bread on white ceramic plate”.
The FTC also criticised that paid reviews and articles had been formatted to look like independent, neutral recommendations — without disclosing the connection to the company.
And it doesn’t stop at one authority
The FTC case doesn’t stand alone. Overlays are under pressure in court too: over the past year, hundreds of companies using an overlay were sued. In May 2025 alone, according to an analysis by UsableNet, 119 defendants were recorded that used a third-party accessibility extension. And in the professional community, the Overlay Fact Sheet — signed by hundreds of accessibility experts — has documented for years that overlays don’t create conformance and can even disrupt assistive technology.
When a regulator, courts and the professional community reach the same conclusion, that’s a clear signal.
Does that mean overlays are a scam?
No — and this fairness is part of it. The specific FTC case concerned one provider’s marketing, not every widget on the market. And an on-screen menu does have real value: it helps many visitors adjust their view right away. The mistake isn’t in the tool but in the promise — selling it as a replacement for real accessibility instead of a complement.
The honest way
Real, sound accessibility doesn’t come from hiding but from fixing. In practice that means four things:
- Find: surface the real problems — via scan or audit, against the WCAG criteria, with a pointer to the affected spot.
- Fix: solve the causes in the code — alt text, contrast, keyboard operation, structure. An on-screen menu can additionally lower barriers.
- Prove: document the state in an accessibility statement, including a route for feedback.
- Keep at it: accessibility isn’t a one-off project. New content brings new checkpoints.
A widget is a helpful building block in this picture — but a building block, not the foundation. Welcoma builds on exactly this understanding: an honest scan instead of a promise no one can keep. The practical roadmap is in the guide make your website accessible.
Sources: Federal Trade Commission, proceedings and final order against accessiBe Inc./Ltd. (January & April 2025); Law Office of Lainey Feingold and UsableNet on the number of overlay-related lawsuits; Overlay Fact Sheet (overlayfactsheet.com). As of June 2026. This article is for information and is not legal advice. Named trademarks belong to their respective owners; there is no business relationship.