FTCWatch
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January 28, 2025
DOJ antitrust officials issue 10-year stats report
The Department of Justice’s antitrust division released its 10-year workload statistics report, noting enforcement actions from 2015 through 2024.
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January 28, 2025
Ferguson instructs staff to report efforts to ‘disguise’ diversity efforts
Andrew Ferguson, the Federal Trade Commission’s new chairman, sent a memo to staff last week advising that the agency would close all diversity, equity and inclusion offices and warning of potential “adverse consequences” if other DEI activity isn't reported in a timely fashion.
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January 28, 2025
Feds weigh in on scam about unpaid road tolls
State transportation agencies and the Federal Trade Commission are warning drivers to beware of unpaid toll scams.
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January 28, 2025
FTC AI chief Gray talks agency’s tech use
While the Federal Trade Commission has scrutinized the latest investments and partnerships involving artificial intelligence companies, the use of the technology is not new at the agency.
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January 28, 2025
FTC in-house court reviews impersonation rule change covering individuals
A Federal Trade Commission judge held an informal hearing this month on a rule expansion designed to protect individuals from fraud by impersonation in the commercial realm.
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January 28, 2025
Neil Averitt commentary: Bringing Robinson-Patman cases under Ferguson
The Robinson-Patman Act is poised to make a comeback at the Federal Trade Commission. At first glance, this is surprising because President Donald Trump’s designee as the new agency chairman, Andrew Ferguson, has just finished dissenting from the agency’s first R-P complaints in decades. But in the course of his dissents, Ferguson also described the kind of price discrimination case that he thinks the agency has an obligation to bring.
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January 28, 2025
Small retailers, FTC laid groundwork for Robinson-Patman Act
This is the fifth in a series of articles marking the 110th anniversary of the Federal Trade Commission’s founding.
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January 28, 2025
Ferguson faces internal, external challenges as tenure begins
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson begins his tenure without a majority to enact his agenda, facing renewed efforts by congressional Republicans to strip the agency of its antitrust power, and getting pressure from the White House to make major changes in personnel and working conditions.
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January 28, 2025
People — House antitrust panel chair seeks changes in enforcement strategies
Scott Fitzgerald, the new chairman of the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, didn’t seek the job.
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January 28, 2025
On the Shelf: How two culprits transformed business
Too many books about business and economics written by academics are excessively arcane and a chore to read.
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January 14, 2025
Privacy Corner: A talk with free speech champion Marchese
Chris Marchese took free speech protections for granted most of his life until bureaucratic policies at Boston College lit a fire within him. Now, he advocates for First Amendment protections on behalf of the country’s largest tech firms as the director for NetChoice’s litigation center.
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January 14, 2025
Commercial roofers plead guilty to bid-rigging charges
A Department of Justice investigation into commercial roofing services in Florida has garnered guilty pleas from four individuals and one company for bid-rigging, according to an agency release.
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January 14, 2025
Amex GBT’s purchase of rival CWT challenged by DOJ
American Express Global Business Travel Group’s proposed $570 million acquisition of prominent rival CWT Holdings has been challenged by the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.
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January 14, 2025
Calendar
Feb. 25 — The Federal Trade Commission is holding a virtual workshop on “The Attention Economy: Monopolizing Kids’ Time Online.” For more details, go to: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-announces-virtual-workshop-attention-economy-monopolizing-kids-time-online?utm_source=govdelivery.
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January 14, 2025
Disney’s Fubo buyout offers path around sports venture’s ‘antitrust problem’
When FuboTV’s leadership decided to bet the fate of its sports-centric streaming platform on an antitrust showdown with three US media giants in early 2024, CEO David Gandler was public about the fact that he had signed up for a “duel to the death.”
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January 14, 2025
On the Shelf: A long-winded critique of the neoliberal project
While some on the left attribute the dominance of conservative views in antitrust and other policy fields to a right-wing conspiracy, legal scholar Mehrsa Baradaran has a simpler explanation.
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January 14, 2025
AccessiBe settles with FTC over misleading AI claims
Software provider accessiBe agreed to pay $1 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it misrepresented the ability of its AI-powered web accessibility tool.
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January 14, 2025
‘No gig firm exception’ from law, Khan says after Grubhub deal
When the Federal Trade Commission and Illinois attorney general settled with Illinois-based food delivery company Grubhub, it marked another effort by regulators of gig economy firms.
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January 14, 2025
People — Former FTC official Efron moves to Arnold & Porter
New research in the American Economic Review: Insights shows there were more than a thousand mergers of US hospitals from 2002 to 2020, but during that period the Federal Trade Commission took actions against only 13 transactions.
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January 14, 2025
Neil Averitt commentary: Project 2025 has pull with Ferguson
As Washington scrambles to anticipate the antitrust policies of the new administration, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 seems to have dropped off the radar. But three things can be said about it: Project 2025 is still influential; it emphasizes actions with explicitly political goals, including in the antitrust field; and it’s very much in the thoughts of incoming Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson.
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January 14, 2025
Khan highlights market realities, public engagement in Brookings speech
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan used her final speech to reiterate the frequent theme that there needs to be enhanced competition in the marketplace. She also touted the FTC’s level of engagement with the public during her tenure.
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January 14, 2025
DOJ sues six landlords over algorithmic pricing schemes
The Justice Department and nearly a dozen states sued six of the nation’s landlords, alleging that they participated with Texas-based software company RealPage in algorithmic pricing schemes that raised rents.
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January 14, 2025
Stop enforcing no-hire agreements, FTC tells contractor
A building services contractor and its affiliated companies were ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to stop enforcing no-hire agreements.
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January 14, 2025
Carter’s antitrust wins, consumer protection efforts netted criticism
Former President Jimmy Carter’s antitrust achievements didn’t satisfy liberals or conservatives. His consumer protection efforts, however, angered the business community and led a major newspaper to describe the Federal Trade Commission as behaving like a “national nanny.”
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December 17, 2024
Baer given 2024 John Sherman Award at DOJ event
A deputy to Bill Baer, the Justice Department antitrust chief from 2013 to 2016, likened him to a basketball legend during an awards ceremony at the agency last week.