House panel requests FTC investigate if TikTok violated child protection act

The leaders of a bipartisan panel that is focused on China have sent a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether TikTok has violated child protection laws in its efforts to stop the United States from banning the app. The letter, obtained by The Hill and first reported by NBC News, is … Read more

FTC awarding more than $5M in refunds to Ring customers over privacy settlement

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began distributing more than $5 million in refunds to Amazon Ring customers Tuesday, enforcing a settlement with the tech giant over claims that Ring failed to protect consumer privacy. The FTC claimed in a 2023 complaint that Ring allowed employees and contractors improper access to records from the company’s security … Read more

FTC Passes Ban On Non-Compete Agreements

A sweeping new Federal Trade Commission rule will prohibit companies nation from including non-compete agreements in contracts with employees. The new rule also will make existing non-compete clauses unenforceable for all but senior executives, and companies also would be prohibiting from entering into new clauses even with those at the upper end of the workforce. … Read more

Noncompetes Are Dead—and Tech Workers Are Free to Roam

More US workers will soon be free to leave their employers to work for rivals, thanks to a new federal rule that will block the long-standing practice of locking in workers with noncompete agreements. The US Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday issued a final rule that bans most noncompetes nationwide. The agency estimated that by … Read more

UnitedHealth says ‘substantial proportion’ of Americans’ information hit by cyberattack, confirms ransom payment

The cyberattack on Change Healthcare in February targeted the data of “a substantial proportion of people in America,” UnitedHealth Group (UHG) said this week, with the company confirming it paid a ransom in an effort to protect patient information. “Based on initial targeted data sampling to date, the company has found files containing protected health … Read more

Warren slams TurboTax for upselling taxpayers during filing process

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) criticized TurboTax on Monday for charging taxpayers for relatively simple tax returns and repeatedly upselling them during the filing process. Ahead of Monday night’s tax deadline, Warren pointed to an example of a sample taxpayer with a “simple filing situation” who would qualify for the IRS’s new Direct File tool, which … Read more

Meta asks judge to dismiss FTC antitrust case

Meta asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust case against the social media giant, arguing that the agency failed to prove that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp harmed consumers.  “From the very beginning, the FTC has failed to state a plausible claim, and the agency has done … Read more

Jon Stewart says Apple wouldn’t let him interview FTC chair

Comedian Jon Stewart said Monday that Apple wouldn’t let him interview Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan for his former podcast. “I gotta tell you, I wanted to have you on a podcast, and Apple asked us not to do it,” Stewart said during an interview with Khan on “The Daily Show.” “They literally … Read more

The Antitrust Case Against Apple Argues It Has a Stranglehold on the Future

The US Department of Justice had long been expected to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. But when the suit arrived Thursday, it came with surprising ferocity. In a press conference, attorney general Merrick Garland noted that Apple controlled more than 70 percent of the country’s smartphone market, saying the company used that outsize power … Read more

Reddit’s Sale of User Data for AI Training Draws FTC Inquiry

Reddit said ahead of its IPO next week that licensing user posts to Google and others for AI projects could bring in $203 million of revenue over the next few years. The community-driven platform was forced to disclose Friday that US regulators already have questions about that new line of business. In a regulatory filing, … Read more