FTCWatch

  • September 22, 2026

    Calendar

    Nov. 5 — The American Antitrust Institute is holding its 20th Annual Private Antitrust Enforcement Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. For more information, go to: https://www.antitrustinstitute.org.

  • September 22, 2026

    DOJ’s former top litigator says Live Nation deal blindsided trial team

    David Dahlquist, the former top antitrust litigator at the Department of Justice who led the trial against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, told FTCWatch the political leadership’s settlement of the lawsuit was “disappointing and frustrating” and that a more effective deal could have been reached after a jury verdict.

  • September 22, 2026

    Smart meter privacy bill takes aim at foreign-owned utilities

    When James Madison drafted the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution — which guarantees the right of people “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects” — he didn’t have a smart meter on his Virginia home.

  • September 22, 2026

    Ferguson sees little risk to FTC antitrust powers

    Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson predicts there won’t be legislative action to shift the agency’s antitrust enforcement duties to the Department of Justice.

  • September 22, 2026

    People — Elmore heads to Squire Patton Boggs

    For 35 years, roughly a third of the Federal Trade Commission’s history, Ernest Eric Elmore was an agency lawyer. Last month, he joined Squire Patton Boggs’ antitrust and competition practice.

  • September 22, 2026

    Kalshi bets reflect changing odds of Paramount-Warner deal

    Did you have a good feeling about Paramount closing its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery? Did you have some bucks in your pocket and turn to Kalshi? After all, the prediction site called state and federal elections in 2024 with uncanny accuracy.

  • September 22, 2026

    Nvidia’s reported Groq scrutiny could sharpen review of Hugging Face deal

    The Justice Department’s reported investigation of Nvidia’s separate Groq arrangement does not directly call into question its proposed acquisition of Hugging Face, but it could complicate the agency’s review by sharpening scrutiny of the chipmaker’s broader AI dealmaking strategy.

  • September 22, 2026

    Meador, Slaughter agree and disagree over FTC’s role

    Despite clashing over the Federal Trade Commission’s independence, Commissioner Mark Meador and former Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter agreed the agency could take greater advantage of its Section 5 powers.

  • September 22, 2026

    Surveillance pricing policy attracts House panel’s attention

    James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked the Federal Trade Commission for details on the agency’s proposed policy targeting surveillance pricing.

  • September 22, 2026

    Humboldt to pay $12 million in sham payments case

    Humboldt Merchant Services has agreed to pay $12 million for allegedly processing payments from merchants that defrauded consumers, the Federal Trade Commission said.

  • September 22, 2026

    Neil Averitt commentary: Hawley, a strong voice of GOP populism

    When antitrust professionals watch for legislation that may imply tightened enforcement, they tend to eye liberal lawmakers. But we mustn’t overlook the alternative of Republican populism as exemplified by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley.

  • September 22, 2026

    FTC pulls policy statement on health app breaches

    The Federal Trade Commission has rescinded a 2021 policy statement that applied the Health Breach Notification Rule to health applications and connected devices, calling the statement “obsolete.”

  • September 22, 2026

    Pinnacle settles government claims over fixing rental prices

    Pinnacle Property Management Services has settled with the Department of Justice and states over a rental pricing scheme.

  • September 08, 2026

    Nvidia’s Hugging Face openness pledge identifies US, EU antitrust fault line

    Nvidia’s promise to preserve Hugging Face as an open, hardware-neutral platform anticipates what is likely to become the central issue in the antitrust reviews of its $12.93 billion acquisition: whether the dominant supplier of artificial-intelligence chips could use control of a critical developer platform to reinforce its position across the AI ecosystem.

  • September 08, 2026

    Groups call for FTC investigation into AI companies buying, destroying books

    Sitting at his desk in his wood-paneled upstairs office in a Washington, DC-suburban warehouse, Allan Stypeck, a used-and-rare bookseller for 53 years, says he made his “first huge sale” to an artificial intelligence company in May.

  • September 08, 2026

    Calendar

    Sept. 14 — Federal Trade Commission member Mark Meador will speak at the Bill Kovacic Antitrust Salon. The event, sponsored by Concurrences, will begin at 12:30 p.m. and take place at George Washington University Law School’s Jacob Burns Moot Court Room in Washington, DC. For more details, go to: https://www.concurrences.com.

  • September 08, 2026

    Slaughter joins NYU as senior fellow

    Rebecca Kelly Slaughter is heading off to New York University School of Law. The school said the former Federal Trade Commission member will join its Center for Law and Public Trust.

  • September 08, 2026

    Telemarketers hit with fee hike over Do Not Call Registry

    Telemarketers will pay higher fees to access phone numbers on the national Do Not Call Registry starting Oct. 1. 

  • September 08, 2026

    Neil Averitt commentary: The curious case of Hims & Hers

    The Federal Trade Commission has sued lifestyle pharmaceutical marketer Hims & Hers on multiple charges, most involving its negative-option subscriptions. These charges seem valid, but the consumer harm is limited, raising the question of why this marginal case is being so tenaciously litigated by both sides.

  • September 08, 2026

    Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern deal raises service concerns

    Regulators reviewing Union Pacific Railroad’s proposed acquisition of Norfolk Southern may not be paying enough attention to the potential harms it will have on service.

  • September 08, 2026

    Personalized pricing draws renewed FTC interest

    The Federal Trade Commission is weighing a new enforcement policy for “personalized pricing,” a practice that uses consumer data to tailor prices to individual shoppers. 

  • September 08, 2026

    Amazon faces suit from FTC, states over ad surcharge scheme

    Amazon has been accused of secretly inflating prices in its search advertising auctions in a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission and 22 states.

  • September 08, 2026

    FTC abandons disparate-impact cases in policy shift

    The Federal Trade Commission will no longer pursue claims based on disparate impact or a theory of “unfair discrimination.”

  • September 08, 2026

    People — Former enforcer Aitken settles into ABA role

    Melanie Aitken, the new chair of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Section, brings two unique characteristics to the job.

  • September 08, 2026

    Congress moves to tighten regulatory grip on college sports

    As Congress seeks to expand federal oversight of college sports, including through new antitrust exemptions, lawmakers are tackling a problem that has persisted for years.