The FTC has removed four years’ worth of business guidance blogs, sparking concerns about compliance and a shift in the agency’s approach to AI regulation under the Trump administration.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has removed four years’ worth of business guidance blogs from its website, including important consumer protection information related to artificial intelligence and landmark privacy lawsuits. The move has raised concerns about compliance under the Federal Records Act and the Open Government Data Act.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the US government responsible for protecting consumers and promoting competition.
Established in 1915, the FTC enforces federal laws regulating business practices, including antitrust laws, consumer protection, and truth-in-advertising.
The agency has the authority to investigate and prosecute companies that engage in deceptive or unfair business practices.
Key statistics: The FTC receives over 150,000 complaints annually, resulting in more than $1 billion in refunds for consumers.
Its mission is to 'protect America's consumers by taking action against anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices'.
More than 300 blogs were deleted, including those on how big tech companies could avoid violating consumer protection laws. One blog, titled ‘Hey, Alexa! What are you doing with my data?’, explained how Amazon allegedly leveraged sensitive consumer data to train its algorithms. Another post instructed tech companies on how to abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
The removal of these blogs is seen as a shift in the FTC’s approach under the Trump administration, which has received broad support from the tech industry. Big tech companies like Amazon and Meta have donated to Trump‘s inauguration fund, while other Silicon Valley leaders are officially advising the administration.
Removing the blogs raises serious compliance concerns under the Federal Records Act and the Open Government Data Act. A former FTC official claims that the agency would typically place ‘warning’ labels above previous administrations’ public decisions it no longer agreed with to avoid violating the law.
The Republican regulator, Andrew Ferguson, has vowed to leverage his authority to go after big tech companies. His criticisms center around the Republican party’s allegations that social media platforms censor conservative speech online. However, sources claim that tech companies are the only groups who benefit from the removal of these blogs.
The removal of these blogs is seen as a change in the FTC’s approach to data collection and AI regulation. Sources allege that this administration plans to take the foot off the gas regarding data collection, while stepping up its work on censorship. This move is likely to be welcomed by big tech companies.
Data collection is the process of gathering and storing data from various sources.
It involves identifying, capturing, and recording relevant information to support decision-making, research, or operations.
Effective 'accurate and timely' data can be obtained through surveys, online forms, social media monitoring, or sensor devices.
Organizations use 'to improve customer experiences, optimize business processes, and make informed strategic decisions.'
The removal of these blogs has sparked concerns about transparency and accountability in the FTC’s decision-making process. As one source puts it, ‘They are talking a big game on censorship. But at the end of the day, the thing that really hits these companies’ bottom line is what data they can collect, how they can use that data, whether they can train their AI models on that data.‘
