The FTC voted 3-2 along party lines Thursday to issue a policy statement outlining enforcement priorities against unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive practices involving the gig economy. The commission also unanimously issued a staff report on dark patterns and a proposed rule against impersonation fraud.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
TikTok has employees in Beijing as do many other global tech companies, TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas told the Senate Homeland Security Committee during a hearing Wednesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hasn’t moved to subpoena testimony from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, committee leaders told reporters Tuesday. Their comments came after bipartisan concern over data security allegations about the platform during a hearing with a company whistleblower. Tuesday’s hearing confirms that allegations from whistleblower Peiter Zatko are “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are nearing agreement on legislation that would create a new consumer protection agency to regulate the tech industry, they confirmed with us.
Policymakers should remove special legal protections for tech platforms under Communications Decency Act Section 230, increase algorithm transparency and set clear data collection limits, the White House said Thursday, outlining principles for enhancing competition and tech accountability.
The FTC’s authority will be challenged if it issues a privacy rulemaking, former agency and industry officials said Wednesday, a day before the FTC is set to host a public forum on its rulemaking effort (see 2208110068).
The House Commerce Committee’s bipartisan privacy legislation isn’t strong enough to replace privacy laws like those in California, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement Thursday. Some 50 public interest groups demanded she hold a vote on the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (see 2208250040).
The California State Senate passed potential social media regulations Monday that sponsors say will help protect children and combat hate speech. Tech groups and open-internet advocates said the regulations are heavy-handed, unconstitutional and will harm innovation.
The FTC sued an Idaho data-marketing company Monday for allegedly buying and selling “geolocation data from hundreds of millions of mobile devices” that can be used to track individuals to and from “sensitive locations” like reproductive health clinics.
The FTC’s various rulemaking efforts are designed to put “market participants on notice,” and the commission is committed to activating all legal authorities necessary for enforcement, Chair Lina Khan said in a statement with Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya in support of the agency’s five-year strategic plan, issued Friday.