Advertisers avoiding placing ads next to harmful or misleading content isn’t “censorship” – it's capitalism at work. So why is the FTC treating it like a conspiracy? Read the latest from Policy Director @lisahmacpherson.bsky.social:
publicknowledge.org/the-ftcs-new...
Livestream cut out when @edmarkey.bsky.social questions Chair Ferguson about going after gender affirming care as a deceptive practice.... but we're back now with Senator Hickenlooper asking about foreign scammer issues.
@kim.senate.gov questions Chair Ferguson about his own words regarding who he serves - the president or the American people. Sen. Kim asks why Ferguson says he is proud to serve the Trump/Vance FTC, if he claims his duty is to the American people.
@lujan.senate.gov, as he did in the FCC oversight hearing, pushes witnesses about agency independence. Chair Ferguson and Commissioner Meador assert that they agree entirely with overturning Humphrey's Executor, and the president can unilaterally remove commissioners
Sen. Blackburn asks how the social media addiction verdicts in California and New Mexico influence FTC work. Chair Ferguson says FTC launched 6b study on AI chatbots & children - and warns against the EU model of headlong regulation would be the wrong approach.
Senator Blackburn asks how the Trump FTC will protect consumers from harmful AI Deepfakes, while maintaining global AI leadership. Chair Ferguson asserts FTC stays comfortably within the law, bringing enforcement actions against AI companies misrepresenting products
Chair Ferguson advocates for a national data privacy framework to ensure data collectors and data owners have the protections and guardrails needed to protect consumers. This is bipartisan!
It would be unlikely the FTC would have investigated Media Matters for its conservative media watchdog work if there was a full bipartisan commission... hard to tell if the majority is overstepping if there isn't a minority to check them. A confounding response from the Chair.
Senator Klobuchar used some time to celebrate the first enforcement action under TAKE IT DOWN Act. She closes by asking about the importance of bipartisan commissioners. Chair claims FTC under Trump admin doesn't have a problem w/ majority departing from the law, so they dont need dissenting voices
Cantwell asks about when we'll see the 6b study report on surveillance pricing. Chair Ferguson opened investigation into Instacart's personalized pricing experiment, which influence Instacart to stop. FTC announced yesterday about app delivery fee transparency NPRM.
Biden FTC pursued notice of proposed rulemaking on AI and surveillance. Cruz asks what cost of compliance of the proposed FTC rule. The Chair claims costs of AI Act compliance were staggering -- "a recipe for killing innovation". But regulation is still needed.
First line of Cruz's questioning is around college sports. Cruz claims major D1 schools will start canceling non-revenue-making sports programs due to ongoing antitrust litigation. Makes the case for why FTC shouldn't be overseeing college sports regulation. Ferguson says its not a good use of FTC
@cantwell.senate.gov notes that Dem Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya are not there bc the President illegally fired them. How can FTC outcomes be impartial if voices of dissent are eliminated?
Sen. Cruz believes Congress should not give the FTC new authorities or responsibilities, e.g., data privacy, speech on platforms (Ferguson's "tech platform censorship" request for comment!), college sports...
Advocates for consent decree reform
Sen. Cruz sets the stage, claiming FTC has expanded beyond its authority and needs to be checked... but only notes Biden era Chair Khan.
Ironically, after congratulating Ferguson for settling with advertisers, Cruz complains about FTC excessively suing companies with the intention to settle.
Sen. Cruz opens the hearing - predictably congratulates the Chairman for settling with advertising firms for allegedly colluding to boycott conservative news sites. Cruz is congratulating FTC for infringing on speech!
Follow the FTC Oversight hearing with me in this thread!
@publicknowledge.bsky.social filed an Amicus in the Trump v. Slaughter case, arguing against the Unitary Executive Theory, and in support of reinstating the Dem commissioners. A decision in this case is expected any day now.
Dems will press FTC Commissioners on if agency is truly independent. During last December's FCC oversight hearing, @lujan.senate.gov asked Chair Carr why website states the FCC is independent, yet Carr says it isn't. Website was updated DURING the hearing to remove reference to its independence!
Republicans are likely to rail on frmr Chair Khan's "weaponizing" the FTC, and adulate Ferguson & Meador for "righting the ship". But Dems will hound these two for their efforts to go after media watchdog groups for their 1A protected speech, their Gender Affirming Care workshop, and more
There are only 2 out of 5 requisite commissioners at the hearing - bc the Dem commissioners were unceremoniously axed at the start of Trump's 2nd term. Supreme Court is still determining whether Trump can do this (Humphrey's Executor). FTC has been operating w/o a full commission for over a year
Senate Commerce is holding an FTC oversight hearing this morning. Curiously, in announcing the hearing, Chair Cruz pointed to Biden FTC Chair Khan as "weaponizing the agency" as justification for the hearing... but Khan is long gone.
Chair Ferguson & Commissioner Meador are witnesses
Second fix: reform the business model. Proposals include a progressive digital advertising tax, interoperability & in-situ data rights so users can choose their own algorithms. As long as misinformation is profitable, it will persist.
7/10
Happy #localnewsday ! Are you subscribed to your local news paper?
To add - the settlement was clear to STILL allow these agencies to communicate with social media platforms (1A right!).
And it does nothing to prevent the very real and persistent censorship threats from the Trump admin - made all the worse if(when) Humphrey's is overturned
And as NRA v. Vullo already established, gov. ALREADY cannot use the threat of regulatory action to force a private entity to take a point of view.
Worse, the settlement does NOTHING to help individuals who believe their online content has been censored by government
Last week, I expressed my confusion when Sen. Schmitt touted this settlement as a "huge win for Missouri". All the settlement does forbid CDC, Surgeon Gen., & CISA from coercing platforms to moderate plaintiffs in Missouri & Louisiana. But... those agencies have no coercive power already.
Ultimately, Musk can make his platform all about "free speech" by relaxing content standards and allowing a deluge of racist, sexist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, transphobic and otherwise hateful posts.
But brands can decide they dont want their ads next to such despicable content.
Musk's lawsuit flopped bc he failed to show how advertisers boycott of X either 1) benefitted an X competitor or 2) cut off others from advertising on X.
