FTCWatch
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June 10, 2025
Privacy Corner: House rules apply for navigating live streams on Twitch, VP says
Since live streams can be a tricky area to moderate, Twitch’s community health team is building the tools to do that in real-time, nudging people, and reminding them of their manners.
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June 10, 2025
Calendar
June 30 — The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are holding a joint virtual listening session at 2 p.m. ET on “Anticompetitive Conduct by Pharmaceutical Companies Impeding Generic or Biosimilar Competition.” For more information, go to: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/06/ftc-doj-host-listening-sessions-lowering-americans-drug-prices-through-competition?utm_source=govdelivery.
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June 10, 2025
FTC wants lawmakers to cut budget by $42 million
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson has done something few agency heads ever do — asked Congress to reduce the agency’s budget.
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June 10, 2025
‘Attention Economy’ workshop amplifies need to protect children’s safety online
The number of moms with school-aged kids who are serving in the Senate is few, according to Senator Katie Britt, who says the dual role informs her about social media’s perils.
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June 10, 2025
People
Antitrust scholar Francis wins top AAI research award
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June 10, 2025
Employee called out for ethics violation in FTC’s OIG report
The Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Inspector General found an agency employee misused a travel card for unauthorized purchases and violated federal ethics rules as part of a probe, according to its semiannual report to Congress.
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June 10, 2025
Charter-Cox antitrust review to focus on broadband, retransmission fees, buildout
The Department of Justice’s antitrust review of Charter Communications’ proposed $34.5 billion acquisition of Cox Communications will likely be decided by competition among broadband providers.
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June 10, 2025
Neil Averitt commentary: Another wave of enforcement for concerts, ticket sales
Say what you will about President Donald Trump, he knows a lot about issues that rile up ordinary people and high on that list is getting ripped off for concert tickets. So he’s directed the federal competition agencies to pay more attention to pricing practices in live entertainment. The agencies responded on May 7 with a call for public suggestions. Where might that lead?
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June 10, 2025
Synopsys-Ansys deal conditionally cleared by FTC
Semiconductor company Synopsys’ proposed $35 billion merger with software provider Ansys was conditionally cleared by the Federal Trade Commission through a consent decree.
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June 10, 2025
The FTC’s long, winding road on executive authority
Federal Trade Commission members take on various responsibilities, and the future of the agency’s independence partly rests on whether judges believe the commissioners are exercising executive power.
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June 10, 2025
Ex-executive gets six months in prison for bid-rigging scheme
A former senior executive of a Michigan asphalt paving company has been sentenced to six months in prison and must pay a $500,000 fine for a multiyear bid-rigging conspiracy.
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June 10, 2025
Feds clamp down on student loan debt scammers
The Federal Trade Commission has barred alleged scammers who bilked millions out of student loan borrowers from the debt relief industry.
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June 10, 2025
On The Shelf: A media mogul tells most
Few media executives have had an impact on a range of businesses like Barry Diller. Yet his successful career has at times been eclipsed by a colorful and glamorous personal life.
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May 27, 2025
Nonprofits ask FTC to investigate Google’s use of AI chatbot for kids
A collection of nonprofit organizations has asked Google to stop the rollout of its AI chatbot for children under 13 while also calling for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company’s conduct as it expands the technology to young users.
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May 27, 2025
Republicans ask FTC to address Google spam practices
The chairs of the Republican congressional campaign committees wrote to the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, calling Google’s routing of certain e-mails to spam “speech suppression” and asking for the agency’s attention to Gmail practices.
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May 27, 2025
Calendar
Nov. 13-14 — The Federal Trade Commission is hosting its 18th Annual Microeconomics Conference. It will be held at the Constitution Center in Washington, DC. For more information, go to: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2025/11/eighteenth-annual-microeconomics-conference.
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May 27, 2025
Privacy Corner: Protecting data in polarized times with ZwillGen’s founder
As political attacks intensify, there’s increasing demand for privacy lawyers that surpasses even figuring out the patchwork of state laws.
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May 27, 2025
DOJ revises whistleblower reward program
The Justice Department has revised policies regarding a whistleblower reward program.
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May 27, 2025
Staff cuts, fate of fired commissioners loom over FTC
The Federal Trade Commission is cutting staff by about 15 percent and probably won’t have a full slate of commissioners for several months, depending on the outcome of litigation by fired commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.
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May 27, 2025
Enforcement of sections of Negative Option Rule delayed until July 14
Under the Federal Trade Commission’s past and present leaders, the enforcement of major sections of an agency rule intended to allow customers to more easily cancel a subscription has been deferred for monthslong stretches.
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May 27, 2025
Dems urge FTC to launch price-gouging probe related to tariffs
A group of Democratic lawmakers including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate which large companies are using the Trump administration’s tariff policies to price gouge.
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May 27, 2025
On the Shelf: A short, witty prescription for better privacy protection
Too many books that make important points about privacy are so long and jargony that they’re almost impenetrable and only reach a limited audience.
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May 27, 2025
Neil Averitt commentary: Exploring the new Republican commitment to populism
The new leaders of the antitrust agencies have conspicuously pledged themselves to populist enforcement principles. But just how far does this commitment extend? A few concrete litmus tests will soon give us some idea.
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May 27, 2025
Ferguson says FTC needs more tools to enforce intimate deepfakes law, AI agenda
Graphic intimate deepfakes are proliferating at an astounding rate, and the Federal Trade Commission will need additional resources to enforce a new law criminalizing the creation and publication of non-consensual, AI-generated images, Chairman Andrew Ferguson told the House Appropriations Committee at a budget oversight hearing.
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May 27, 2025
People
DOJ’s Wimberly moves to Axinn