FTC - Page 5

The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook is worried that internal emails could show that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was aware of the company’s questionable privacy practices.

Forty-three state attorneys general sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging it to take action on big tech privacy and competition.

A recent report from MarketWatch claims that ahead of suspected antitrust investigations into Silicon Valley, tech giants may have to reveal to users how much their data is worth. User Data is the lifeblood of the Masters of the Universe, providing them with billions in profits based on targeted advertising.

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google have reportedly amassed a “lobbying army” as they prepare to deal with an increasing amount of antitrust investigations and calls to break up America’s largest and most influential tech companies.

According to votes from Facebook’s annual shareholder meeting last week, 68 percent of outside investors want to see an independent chairman appointed in place of Mark Zuckerberg. Due to Zuckerberg’s chokehold on voting shares of the company, the investors’ vote will have no bearing on his role at the top of the Silicon Valley giant.

The Masters of the Universe are in for a higher level of scrutiny than they are used to as the DOJ and the FTC prepare to investigate major Silicon Valley tech giants. The FTC has announced oversight of possible investigations of Facebook and Amazon.

The House Judiciary Committee said Monday that it will launch a “top-to-bottom” antitrust investigation of America’s largest tech companies, including Amazon, Facebook, and Google, making antitrust behavior of big tech a bipartisan issue. 

According to recent reports, the U.S. Justice Department is preparing to launch an antitrust investigation into Alphabet Inc.’s Google.

Mark Zuckerberg is pushing back against calls by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes to break up the social media giant.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has called for the empire he helped Mark Zuckerberg to assemble to be broken up by the government. Taking it a step further, Hughes argues that the government should regulate big tech and control “acceptable speech” on social media.

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called for “forceful accountability measures” against Facebook in the wake of their various abuses of Americans’ private data.

According to Politico, Facebook’s new settlement with the FTC may include the formation of an independent privacy oversight organization.

Facebook warned investors that an FTC investigation of its privacy practices would likely cost the company between $3 billion and $5 billion.

Ron Wyden told the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) they should hold Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally “liable” for the company’s many privacy violations. 

President Trump’s hand-picked appointees for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defied his “Buy American” economic nationalist agenda in a recent case where they voted to protect companies who falsely claimed their Chinese-manufactured products were “Made in America.”  

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) proposed three solutions to Silicon Valley’s censorship practices: regulation, antitrust, and policing big tech’s fraud during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a letter on Monday to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting it to take action on Facebook and Google’s potential anticompetitive behavior and violations of American privacy.

Office Depot and California-based tech support firm Support.com have agreed to settle for $35 million after being charged by the FTC on allegations that the companies scammed customers into spending millions of dollars on unnecessary services.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), the chairman of the House Juduciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, on Tuesday, called for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether Facebook violated American antitrust laws.

According to a recent report from the New York Times, tech giant Facebook is under criminal investigation for a number of data deals with other major tech firms. The New York Times recently reported that federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation

Popular entertainment app TikTok will pay $5.7 million to the FTC over a children’s privacy complaint, which alleged that the company’s Musical.ly app was collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent.

According to the Washington Post, Facebook is in the process of negotiating with the FTC over a multi-billion dollar fine that would settle the agency’s investigation into Facebook’s privacy breaches.

Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote an article for Time Magazine, Wednesday, in support of digital privacy and control through regulation.

Attorney General (AG) nominee William Barr said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that he’s interested in “reassessing” or learning more about the DOJ’s anti-trust policies regarding the Silicon Valley “huge behemoths” Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

Online scammers are reportedly using fake Netflix billing emails in an attempt to steal users’ personal and financial data.

A new report from the New York Times about the social media giant Facebook has called into question whether the company adhered to a 2011 consent decree with the FTC. One expert said that Mark Zuckerberg’s company operates “without any apparent sense that they have to follow the law, even while on parole.”

Massive strategic partnerships might prevent Facebook from upholding their promise to audit all third-party applications for user data leakage.

Law professor Adam Candeub disagreed with an FTC commissioner who argued social media platforms shouldn’t be subject to regulation.

Republican Federal Trade Commissioner (FTC) Noah Phillips dismissed the idea of using the agency’s antitrust authority to address social media giants’ censorship practices.

Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN) called for a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation of Google’s manipulation of their search engine given their ‘unrvivaled power’ and using their “monopoly to promote liberal agendas.”

Tim Wu, the former FTC senior adviser who coined the term “net neutrality,” has expressed support for the breaking up of Big Tech monopolies.

Investor’s Business Daily charged in an editorial on Thursday that net neutrality advocates unintentionally “made the case” for regulating Google and Facebook.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) wrote to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Joseph Simmons on Thursday, urging the agency to investigate Google’s anti-competitive practices.

The leading U.S. communications union is joining a coalition calling for the Federal Trade Commission to break up and regulate Facebook.

Rep. Rokita warned that Google has “vast insight and influence into American consumers’ internet activities.”

The FBI, SEC, and Justice Department have joined a federal probe into Facebook’s user data scandal which saw the personal info of 87 million users allegedly shared without their explicit consent.