It appears House Republican leadership isn’t willing to bring the House Commerce Committee’s bipartisan privacy bill to the floor because it lacks the necessary votes to pass, members and sources close to discussions told us Wednesday.
The FTC recouped more than $324 million in refunds to consumers in 2023, the agency said Friday in its annual refund report. That number compares with $392.9 million in 2022, $472.4 million in 2021 and $483 million in 2020. The FTC’s civil remedy authority was weakened in 2021 when a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court found FTC Act Section 13(b) doesn’t authorize the agency to seek equitable monetary relief like restitution or disgorgement (see 2104220068). The total for 2023 included $99 million returned to consumers who were charged fees when trying to cancel Vonage phone plans, the agency said. Slightly more than 88% of the $324 million was returned to consumers, the agency added. Another 2.9% of the funds were sent to the U.S. Treasury, and 9.1% of the funds covered administrative costs. The 9.1% administrative cost compares with 1.7% for 2022, 1.8% for 2021 and 6.5% for 2020.
The “danger” of the federal government colluding with “concentrated private power” can’t be overstated, FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Thursday. The former Virginia solicitor general noted his state signing onto an amicus brief with 14 other states that sided with Missouri and Louisiana in a social media censorship lawsuit against the Biden administration (see 2405010079). Speaking at a Federalist Society event, Ferguson discussed how Missouri and Louisiana accused Biden officials of “coercing or colluding” with large tech platforms to “drive COVID-19 skepticism” off social media. “I cannot overstate the danger of government colluding with concentrated private power to infringe the liberties of everyone in this room,” he said. Ferguson said more states should assert themselves to protect individual rights when the federal government is “unwilling or unable.” Ferguson lauded Republican efforts in Texas and Florida to pass laws intended to address perceived biases against conservative content on social media. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association sued to block those laws (see 2402270072). The central government is incapable of “doing anything like Florida and Texas did,” he said. The best governance is done by the people closest to those they govern, meaning state and local authorities, Ferguson said.
The FTC referred a complaint to DOJ against TikTok and parent company ByteDance for potential children’s privacy violations, the agency announced Thursday. The commission voted 3-0-2 to refer the complaint to the department. Republican Commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak, who joined the commission in March, were recused. The FTC’s investigation of the companies started during a compliance review associated with the agency’s 2019 settlement over Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act allegations against Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor, the commission said in a statement. In addition, the commission was investigating additional potential violations of COPPA and the FTC Act. “The investigation uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest, so the Commission has voted to refer a complaint to the DOJ, according to the procedures outlined in the FTC Act,” the commission said. Typically, the FTC doesn't announce publicly that "it has referred a complaint," it said. However, "we have determined that doing so here is in the public interest.” The commission looks forward to collaborating with DOJ, the agency said. TikTok said in a statement Tuesday it’s worked with the FTC for more than a year to “address its concerns” and is “disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution.” TikTok “strongly” disagrees with the allegations, which relate to “past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” the company said.
Bipartisan legislation filed Thursday would make it illegal to publish deepfake pornography and revenge porn. Introduced by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the bill would require social media platforms to remove nonconsensual, explicit content within 48 hours of a “valid request from a victim.” The FTC would enforce the legislation, the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (Take It Down) Act. The bill has 11 other co-sponsoring senators, including Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Lummis told us recently that the bill is a more-targeted approach than Klobuchar’s legislation with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits (Defiance) Act. On June 12 Lummis blocked Durbin’s effort to pass the Defiance Act by unanimous consent. The Defiance Act, which is co-sponsored by Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would establish a right for victims to seek civil damages for harm related to synthetic, nonconsensual deepfake content. Cruz said his bill will empower victims by “putting the responsibility on websites to have in place procedures to remove these images.”
The House Appropriations Committee advanced the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY 2025 funding bill, which includes annual funding for the FCC and FTC. Lawmakers approved the measure on a 33-24 party-line vote Thursday night. The legislation increases the FCC’s annual allocation to $416 million and decreases the FTC’s yearly money to $388.7 million (see 2406050067). Committee Democrats ultimately didn’t seek amendments aimed at removing riders from the funding bill that bar the FCC from using its allocation to implement its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders, as some lobbyists thought possible (see 2406130064). House Appropriations also voted 33-24 to advance the Legislative Branch Subcommittee’s FY25 funding bill, which includes $59.7 million for the Copyright Office.
The FTC should finalize its privacy rulemaking before year's end, more than 30 organizations urged Chair Lina Khan in a letter Thursday. Signers included Fight for the Future, Demand Progress Education Fund, Center on Race and Digital Justice, Athena Coalition, Free Press, MediaJustice and Consumer Federation of America. Khan’s FTC first sought public comment on a potential rulemaking in August 2022 (see 2208110068). Since then, the “harmful impacts of unregulated surveillance and data collection have worsened,” the groups said, citing the rise of AI technology. They cited Amazon’s biometric surveillance using Ring technology and Meta’s tracking of users across the internet as examples. Groups are “frustrated” with the agency’s “lack of action” since the initial announcement, they said: “As core privacy rights are being challenged and data surveillance corporations are finding new ways to extract even more personal, sensitive data from individuals, we implore the FTC to put forth the NPRM on commercial surveillance.” The agency declined comment.
The House Appropriations Committee continued debating Thursday afternoon the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY 2025 funding bill, which increases the FCC’s annual allocation to $416 million and decreases the FTC’s annual funding to $388.7 million (see 2406050067). Communications policy lobbyists said panel Democrats might attempt removing riders from the measure that bar the FCC from using funding for implementing its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders, but they hadn’t sought votes on such amendments at our deadline.
The FTC’s merger guidelines will become “useless” if they are rescinded each time an opposing party takes power, FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson said Thursday.
The House Appropriations Committee plans a Thursday vote on the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY 2025 funding bill, which proposes increasing the FCC’s allocation over FY 2024 and decreasing funds for the FTC. The funding bill, which House Appropriations Financial Services advanced last week, includes riders barring the FCC from using its allocation to implement its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders (see 2406050067). The measure gives the FCC $416 million for FY25, including almost $12.7 million for its independent Office of the Inspector General. It includes $388.7 million for the FTC. The markup session will begin at 9 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn, House Appropriations said Friday.