New Hart-Scott-Rodino rules will mean increased time and cost when filing premerger notifications with the FTC and DOJ, antitrust attorneys said Monday. The FTC on Thursday announced finalization of new HSR filing rules. It said the changes will help enforcers “detect illegal mergers and acquisitions prior to consummation.” The commission voted 5-0 to finalize the changes. They include requirements for filing additional transaction documents, high-level business plans and disclosures of investors in the buying party. The FTC estimates the new rules will add 68 hours to the average time for preparing an HSR filing and increase the cost by about $39,644. The rules are expected to become effective in January, 90 days after Federal Register publication. Hunton Andrews said they will create uncertainty about the level of detail required for filings, including “descriptions of the ownership structure, transaction rationale and overlaps.” Paul Weiss said that based on the FTC announcement, the most significant increases in costs could be felt in “transactions with complex party or deal structures, those involving entities with many overlapping business operations or existing business relationships in the supply chain, or where the parties have a history of acquisitions in the same business lines.” The FTC said it will lift its suspension of early termination when the rules go into effect. The “temporary” suspension was implemented in February 2021 (see 2102040025 and 2203170004).
The FTC investigated 70% of Hart-Scott-Rodino merger transactions in fiscal 2023, the agency said in its annual report with DOJ on Thursday. DOJ issued second requests, the mechanism used to initiate an investigation, in 30% of transactions in 2023. There were 1,723 total HSR transactions in 2023, 124 of which received FTC clearance. DOJ received clearance on 61 of the transactions. The FTC in fiscal 2022 issued second requests on 53.2% of transactions it reviewed, and DOJ initiated investigations in about 47% of its cases. During President Donald Trump’s last year in office, fiscal 2020, the FTC issued requests on 48% of transactions, and DOJ issued requests on 52% of its cases. There were 1,580 total transactions in 2020 and 3,029 in 2022. The commission voted 3-2 to issue the 2023 report, with Republicans Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson dissenting. Holyoak and Ferguson urged the two agencies to fix discrepancies between how the FTC and DOJ report certain figures, specifically how they measure litigation results.
FTC Chair Lina Khan “only attends official events at the request of members of Congress" and abides by “all the rules governing her role as chair,” an agency spokesperson said Wednesday (see 2410020046). House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., wrote Khan Tuesday saying his committee is expanding its investigation of FTC “politicization” under her leadership to also probe her participation in “campaign-season events with Democrat candidates” (see 2410080062). The agency spokesperson said members of Congress invite Khan to “official events so she can hear from their constituents, because every community has a stake in fair competition.”
Attorneys general from 13 states and the District of Columbia sued TikTok in 14 separate courts Tuesday. The 10 Democratic and four Republican AGs said TikTok violated state and D.C. consumer protection laws when it allegedly addicted young users and collected their data without consent. TikTok disputed the claims as “inaccurate and misleading.” Separately, more than 20 states asked that a court force TikTok to cooperate with their investigation.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is taking aim again at the FCC and FTC with less than a month left before the Nov. 5 presidential election. Comer said Tuesday he’s expanding his probe of FTC actions under Chair Lina Khan (see 2306010053) to examine her attendance at upcoming policy events as a way to campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presidential nominee, and congressional candidates. House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and GOP former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly have criticized Khan’s pro-Harris activities in recent days (see 2410020046).
Federal and state legislators should take a light-touch regulatory approach to AI because there are unsettled questions about free speech and innovation potential, a Trump-appointed trade judge, a religious group and tech-minded scholars said Tuesday.
Consumer, financial and other groups largely supported a draft FCC order on robotexts and robocalls that was pulled from a vote at the September FCC open meeting (see 2409240068). They reported on a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The Organizations joined together for this meeting because they are united in their commitment to combating criminals who attempt to defraud consumers by impersonating legitimate businesses through illegally spoofed calls and text messages,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-59. Among the groups at the meeting were the National Consumer Law Center, the American Bankers Association, America’s Credit Unions, ACA International, the Bank Policy Institute, the Mortgage Bankers Association and Edison Electric Institute. Bank impersonation texts were the most common form of text scam reported to the FTC in 2022, they noted. A community bank located in the Midwest with less than $500 million in assets was a target of a mass texting campaign two weeks ago, the filing said. “A criminal sent a fake fraud alert to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the bank’s customers,” the groups said: “If the customer replied to the fraud alert, the criminal called the customer, displaying the bank’s phone number on the customer’s Caller ID (i.e., an illegally spoofed call) and claiming to be from the bank. The criminal then used social engineering (i.e., publicly available information about the customer) to persuade the customer to reveal their banking log-in credentials.” The bank fielded approximately 600 calls from customers and others targeted by the scam.
Possible collusion and improper data sharing in AI-related markets requires vigilant, vigorous and timely competition enforcement, DOJ and the FTC said in a statement Friday with international partners. DOJ’s Antitrust Division and the FTC participated in the G7 Competition Authorities and Policymakers Summit in Rome, where they discussed AI competition concerns. The group included enforcers from Italy, France, Germany, Canada, the U.K., Japan and the European Commission. They issued a communiqué highlighting guiding principles for promoting competition and innovation. The principles focus on the need to contest harmful behavior from dominant companies, fair access for competitors, consumer choice, interoperability and AI-model transparency. Sharing American “experiences and perspectives and reflecting on best practices alongside international enforcers helps us better apply the U.S. antitrust laws to unlock economic opportunity for the American people,” said DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki in a statement.
Government officials should disclose their schedules except in limited circumstances when doing so might compromise their safety, former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Thursday, responding to criticism of FTC Chair Lina Khan. “Why aren't public officials' schedules made publicly available?” he said. “I asked and advocated long ago that they be, especially travel. Except in limited instances of security, make officials post them to the Internet!” FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar on Wednesday defended Khan’s upcoming appearances with Democratic lawmakers. She regularly attends “official events at the request of Members of Congress” and abides by the rules governing her role as chair, he said. House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., on Wednesday claimed Khan is improperly campaigning on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris (see 2410020046). Farrar noted Khan in 2024 attended “at least a dozen official events where Members of Congress invited her to listen to their constituents, because every community has a stake in fair competition.” Khan “speaks often about the importance of hearing from Americans across the country, because that’s how to best understand the way markets actually work,” he said.
It’s “unacceptable” for FTC Chair Lina Khan to appear at upcoming policy events and use her position to “campaign” for Vice President Kamala Harris, House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said Wednesday. The lawmaker cited a report about Khan’s upcoming appearance with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, at a policy event focused on “corporate power.” Khan is also reportedly set to appear at three other events with Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.; Mark Pocan, D-Wis.; and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., in their respective states. Gallego is running for a Senate seat. Civil-service employees at federal agencies are prohibited from participating in political activity under the Hatch Act. Rodgers said Khan should “release her upcoming public schedule immediately. Using her position—at an independent agency—to campaign for @VP is unacceptable and furthers my serious concerns that the @FTC is heading in the wrong direction & losing independence.” The agency declined comment. Khan’s three-year term as chair expired on Sept. 25. Khan can remain in her position until she steps down or is replaced.