The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has removed approximately 300 posts that discussed artificial intelligence, consumer protection, and the agency’s prior lawsuits against major tech companies such as Amazon and Microsoft. This action marks a significant shift in the agency’s approach to technology policy under its new leadership, following the end of Lina Khan’s tenure as chair.
These removals are the exception amid a broader trend, which began under the Trump administration. His executive orders literally told federal agencies to cut or change massive swathes of government information. In stepping down Khan’s leadership, the FTC had gone further than any previous administration to defend Americans’ health and safety from tech overreach. With Andrew Ferguson now firmly at the helm, the agency seems to be turning in a different direction.
Ferguson’s appointment as chair also led to much speculation about the FTC’s future direction. It’s a much-anticipated move, but many are especially interested in its Office of Technology Blog, which has gone completely dark since his arrival. The previous administration put a strong emphasis on consumer protection and safety into emerging technologies. Today’s leadership has repeatedly placed a premium on speedy expansion and “great power competition,” particularly with China.
Rebecca Bellan, a senior reporter at TechCrunch who covers business and policy trends in AI, noted that the recent changes could indicate a shift away from regulatory caution. She has been deep on the AI race and how it’s changing business. This intense competition has produced many of these same mergers and other acquisitions, such as acqui-hires, that critics claim are anticompetitive.
Together with Ferguson, in September the FTC made aggressive and unprecedented moves. Their submission included concrete, detailed recommendations to eliminate or revise anticompetitive regulations across the entire federal government. In keeping with the recent trend of regulatory rollbacks, this decision seeks to eliminate government oversight in order to encourage market competition.
Even after these policy shifts, a lot of bad content is still up on the FTC’s website. Two notable posts were published on July 10, 2024: one titled “On Open-Weights Foundation Models” and another titled “AI and the Risk of Consumer Harm.” The latter post is a wake-up call about AI’s capacity for causing real-world harm. It rightly highlights that AI can promote commercial surveillance, amplify fraud and impersonation, and drive illegal discrimination.
“taking note of AI’s potential for real-world instances of harm – from incentivizing commercial surveillance to enabling fraud and impersonation to perpetuating illegal discrimination.” – FTC staff (blog post titled “AI and the Risk of Consumer Harm.”)
Douglas Farrar, former communications director for the FTC, spoke against this troubling development.
“I was shocked to see the Andrew Ferguson led FTC be so out of line with the Trump White House on this signal to the market.” – Douglas Farrar
The change in direction is especially striking given that the Trump administration had previously talked openly about supporting open-source initiatives. The Biden administration’s FTC has begun to retroactively tag content from previous architects that it takes exception to. This move further complicates the political debate over tech regulation.
As the FTC transitions under Ferguson’s leadership, it remains to be seen how these changes will impact ongoing discussions about AI regulation and consumer protection. Taken together, the agency’s recent actions signal a positive shift in priorities. This change has the potential to transform its interaction with technology firms and set a precedent for future policy moves.