Latest in Federal Trade Commission

The Senate confirmed Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, giving Democrats a working majority at the agency as it sets its sights on reining in the tech industry and giving proposed mergers and acquisitions much greater scrutiny. Bedoya was confirmed on a 51-50 party line vote, with Vice President Kamala…

The Senate narrowly advanced the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission, as Democrats seek to end a deadlock on the commission and advance an agenda likely to take a harder line on corporation consolidation and tech giants. The vote on Wednesday was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris…

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are launching plans to update and modernize merger enforcement guidelines, something that could mean more rigorous scrutiny of major tech and media transactions. Lina Khan, the chairwoman of the FTC, and Jonathan Kanter, the chief of the DOJ’s antitrust…

SAG-AFTRA and a coalition of music artist groups have submitted public comments to the Federal Trade Commission asserting that "onerous" contract and employment terms are "rampant" in the entertainment, recording and news industries. These "unconscionable" contracts, they say, not only "harm fair competition and…

Alvaro Bedoya, a privacy advocate and visiting professor of law at Georgetown, has been nominated as one of five commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission. The White House announced Joe Biden’s nomination of Bedoya on Monday. If confirmed, Bedoya likely will be another staunch advocate of taking robust action to…

Thirty-four groups from the Writers Guild of America West to Public Citizen to Demand Progress have appealed to the Federal Trade Commission to block Amazon's proposed acquisition of MGM, which they say reflects the e-commerce giant's growing dominance. The $8.45 billion deal announced in May – which hands Amazon…

UPDATED, with comments from the FTC and Facebook: A federal judge today tossed out the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, concluding that the government failed to establish that the tech platform had a monopoly on social media networks. The judge, James E. Boasberg, still left open the…

The Federal Trade Commission will review Amazon’s planned $8.45 billion deal with MGM, just as the agency has a new chairwoman who has called for reining in the power of the tech giant and other online platforms. The Wall Street Journal reported that the FTC would review the transaction. The FTC and the Justice…

President Joe Biden on Tuesday named Lina Khan as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, just hours after she won Senate confirmation for a vacancy on the commission. Khan is a major and outspoken critic of big tech conglomerates, and her confirmation in a 69-28 vote earlier in the day was a reflection of the…

Lina Khan, who had a key role in a House subcommittee antitrust investigation of major tech giants, has been nominated by President Joe Biden to serve on the Federal Trade Commission. Biden’s selection of Khan is a further indication that his administration will take an aggressive approach to scrutinizing antitrust…

UPDATED with more details: Google will pay $170 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission anda New York Attorney General Letitia James that YouTube illegally collected personal information from children without their parent's consent. The record fine, which had been anticipated after news reports that…

YouTube, which has been under pressure for facilitating inappropriate content viewed by children, is in discussions with federal regulators to end its advertising targeting on videos that appeal to kids, Bloomberg reported. Several years ago, Google-owned YouTube launched a new arena that would ostensibly house all of…