New York should ban children from using cellphones during the school day, Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., said Wednesday. New York is one of several states considering legislation and policies either restricting or banning children from using cellphones in school (see 2406070065). Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed an executive order in July that would implement restrictions by January. Legislators in Utah are considering a cellphone ban proposal, and California is advancing legislation (see 2408280033). Hochul during a Semafor livestream was asked if she thinks New York should implement a ban. “I personally do,” she said, noting she will be meeting with school union officials who support the proposal in the coming weeks. Hochul said she recognizes some parents are “anxious” about the prospect, especially if it could affect communication during a school shooting or crisis. If there’s a mass shooter, students should be following instructions from teachers and staff, not texting or recording the incident, said Hochul: Their attention should be on the adults who can bring them to safety. The purpose of school is to raise adults who can interact with each other and “make eye contact,” said Hochul. This generation isn’t communicating on a “human level” because of its dependency on cellphones throughout the day, she said: Students are supposed to be “paying attention and learning in school.” FTC Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine said Hochul is correct that social media companies intentionally try to addict children. The agency welcomes states, both Democratic- and Republican-led, responding to this “real mental health crisis” for kids and teens, he said.
Google maintains a search market monopoly by self-preferencing products to the detriment of smaller competitors who offer superior local search results, Yelp said in an antitrust lawsuit filed against Google on Wednesday. Yelp filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It claims Google has engaged in “numerous” anticompetitive practices, including stealing search data from Yelp, self-preferencing its own results and using algorithms to steer online traffic away from Yelp. In addition, the lawsuit claims that when Google tried to buy Yelp in 2009, it recognized the quality of Yelp results. When Yelp “rebuffed Google, Google began a years-long mission to stymie Yelp’s ability to reach consumers through Google’s dominant general search platform.” Google, in a statement said, Yelp’s claims are “meritless” and “not new.” Similar claims were “thrown out years ago by the FTC, and recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case,” Google said, referring to Judge Amit Mehta’s recent decision (see 2408050052). “On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims.” Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman on Wednesday claimed Google “manipulates its results to promote its own local search offerings above those of its rivals, regardless of the comparative poorer quality of its own properties, exempting itself from the qualitative ranking system it uses for other sites.”
Telemarketers calling U.S. consumers will pay higher fees to access the national Do Not Call registry in FY 2025, the FTC announced Tuesday. The cost of accessing a single area code will increase from $78 to $80. The maximum charge for accessing all area codes nationwide will increase from $21,402 to $22,038. Access to an additional area code for a half year will increase from $39 to $40.
ASPEN -- The president should have broad discretion without interference from Congress to remove commissioners at independent agencies when they commit offenses the White House deems "fireable," FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Tuesday.
Don’t expect major daylight between a Kamala Harris administration and the Joe Biden White House on major communications policy issues, industry and policy experts predicted. Much focus and effort would center on defending the FCC's net neutrality and digital discrimination orders in the current federal circuit court challenges, as well as pursuing net neutrality rules, they said. Less clear would be the nature of the relationship between Harris' White House and Big Tech. The Harris campaign didn't comment. Deregulation and undoing net neutrality are considered high on the to-do list for the administration of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump if he's elected (see 2407110034).
The FTC was unanimous in finalizing a rule that will allow it to seek civil penalties against companies sharing fake online reviews, the agency announced Wednesday. Approved 5-0, the rule will help promote “fair, honest, and competitive” markets, Chair Lina Khan said. Amazon, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce previously warned the FTC about First Amendment and Section 230 risks associated with the draft proposal (see 2310030064). The rule goes into effect 60 days after Federal Register publication. It allows the agency to seek civil penalties via unfair and deceptive practices authority under the FTC Act. It bans the sale and purchase of fake social media followers and views and prohibits fake, AI-generated testimonials. The rule includes transparency requirements for reviews that people with material connections to businesses write. Moreover, it bans companies from misrepresenting the independence of reviews. Businesses are also banned from “using unfounded or groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, or certain false public accusations to prevent or remove a negative consumer review,” the agency said.
A federal court in California should "use its broad power” to end Google’s illegal Play Store monopoly, which has resulted in anticompetitive distribution of video games on Android devices, the FTC said in a filing Monday (docket 3:20-cv-05671-JD). Epic Games sued Google in 2020, challenging the platform’s 30% app store commission fee for downloads of Epic’s Fortnite. A federal jury in December 2023 found Google guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly, siding with Epic on all counts. Google is appealing. Epic in March asked U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco to force Google to remove barriers to app store competition on Android devices. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California should “use its broad power to order a remedy that stops the illegal conduct, prevents its recurrence, and restores competition,” the FTC said in its amicus brief. Injunctive relief should “restore lost competition in a forward-looking way and should ensure a monopolist is not continuing to reap the advantages and benefits obtained through the antitrust violation,” the agency said. The FTC asked the court to consider structural relief and potential remedies that “address unlawfully acquired scale or unlawfully erected entry barriers, be it in the context of a single product or across lines of business.” The commission voted 3-0 to file the brief, with Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson recused. Holyoak was recused due to her work on behalf of Utah in the state’s antitrust case against Google. Ferguson was recused owing to his role as solicitor general of Virginia, which participated in Epic v. Google.
An FCC notice of inquiry on whether to require cable, phone and broadband providers to offer simple cancellation and access to live representatives is getting applause from consumer advocacy groups. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office on Monday circulated the draft customer service NOI. The White House said the NOI was part of a broader "time is money" initiative aimed at consumer woes. In addition, the effort will investigate whether health insurers make it difficult for customers to submit claims online.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez (D) is working with state lawmakers on legislation aimed at holding social media platforms more accountable for disseminating deepfake porn, he told us Wednesday.
FCC commissioners are expected to approve at Wednesday's open meeting, largely as circulated, a draft NPRM aimed at reducing unwanted AI robocalls. Industry officials active in the proceeding predicted few tweaks based on the limited number of ex parte filings in docket 23-362.