On March 25, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) released an article reflecting on its work in 2020. The following are some of the most notable actions of the FTC in 2020:
On March 22, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Lina Khan to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Khan is an outspoken critic of big tech and a former legal advisor to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, Biden’s nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Khan’s anticipated nomination again
Over the past several years, the Democratic commissioners of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have made clear their dissatisfaction with the agency’s historic treatment of pharmaceutical mergers. Now, it appears that the FTC has launched a process aimed at changing the way in which such transactions are analyzed and ultimately resolved.
Past dissenting statements
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a press release announcing it is holding an Identity Theft Awareness Week between February 1-5, 2021. The week will be comprised of a series of events providing consumers with helpful information to reduce their risk of identity theft and discussing concrete steps consumers can take to recover if identity
On January 11, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it has settled with a California-based photo app developer involving allegations that it was building and using its users’ photos and videos to create facial recognition technology without their express consent.
Facial recognition software is typically comprised of three steps: detection, mapping, and identification. During the
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on December 9, 2020, settled with Complete Merchant Solutions, LLC (CMS) and its former CEO, Jack Wilson, requiring them to pay $1.5 million, refrain from processing payments for certain merchants and enact enhanced client screening protocols.
The FTC alleged that CMS and Wilson facilitated fraud by processing consumer credit card
Midwest Recovery Systems (“Midwest Recovery”), a debt collection company, must cease its alleged debt-parking practices, delete all reported debts, and surrender its remaining assets in partial payment of a $24.3 million monetary judgment, under a stipulated order filed by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) last week. Debt parking, also known as “passive debt collection,” occurs
On October 29, 2020, the FTC hosted its most recent “Green Lights & Red Flags” workshop. This virtual workshop focused on recent fraud patterns, advertising compliance, and data security.
Fraud Fashioned Under COVID-19. The pandemic’s effect on the consumer protection world was front and center at this year’s workshop. According to Andrew Smith, Director of
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (“FACTA”) forbids sellers who accept credit cards from including more than the last five digits of a buyer’s credit card number on a purchase receipt. Yet including more than those five digits will not, by itself, make a seller liable under FACTA, according to a decision issued by
On October 22, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced the launch of its new consumer fraud-reporting website at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The website will provide a reporting platform allowing consumer to directly report instances of fraud to the FTC, as well as related consumer issues under the FTC’s purview.
The FTC touted the platform’s “streamlined