FTCWatch
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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May 27, 2025
Trump executive orders on competition put spotlight on federal regulations
The Defense Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration are among the likely targets of a presidential directive mandating the evaluation of anticompetitive government regulation.
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May 13, 2025
A hundred days into FTC under new chairman, don’t call leadership regulators
Just over 100 days into his leadership of a mono-party Federal Trade Commission, Chairman Andrew Ferguson’s priorities on antitrust and consumer protection enforcement are starting to come into focus.
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May 13, 2025
Slater working to ‘speed up’ merger review process
The Department of Justice is continuing its work to push for quicker merger decisions, according to the agency’s antitrust chief.
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May 13, 2025
GAO proposes US government strategy to counter scams
Although the Federal Trade Commission reported over $12.5 billion lost by consumers last year to fraud, the Government Accountability Office has reported the lack of a government-wide strategy to counter the scams.
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May 13, 2025
National Grocers Association calls for FTC enforcement of Robinson-Patman Act
During the pandemic, some independent grocers were told by suppliers that essential items like toilet paper weren’t available while shelves at big chain stores like Walmart remained full, according to the trade group representing independent grocery stores in the US.
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May 13, 2025
Microsoft prevails in FTC appeal over Activision Blizzard deal
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a district court decision that has denied the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge against Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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May 13, 2025
Calendar
May 29 — The American Antitrust Institute is sponsoring its 26th Annual Policy Conference on “The State of the Antitrust Technocracy.” It will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. For more information, go to: https://www.antitrustinstitute.org/event/26th-aai-annual-policy-conference/.
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May 13, 2025
Uphill legal battle awaits Bedoya, Slaughter after firings
In seeking their jobs back, fired Democratic Federal Trade Commission members Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter face a judicial environment that has shown deference to presidential power as well as the reality that the agency’s powers have expanded in the last 90 years.
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May 13, 2025
Meador takes aim at conservative icon Bork in early speeches
Robert Bork has long been the target of liberal ire. These days one of his most prominent critics is Mark Meador, the newest member of the Federal Trade Commission with impeccable conservative bona fides.