The Federal Trade Commission is planning aggressive reviews of the tech sector through a new technology office that is aiming for artificial intelligence and digital ad makers, as its last Republican commissioner heads for the exit.
The FTC, which is moving forward with exclusively Democratic commissioners, is the federal regulator charged with protecting consumers from deceptive business practices and unfair competition.
FTC Chief Technology Officer Stephanie T. Nguyen said Friday that the agency would build a new team of technologists to support enforcement investigations and lawsuits brought by the agency.
“This could mean dissecting claims made about an AI-powered product to assess whether the offering is oozing with snake oil, or whether automated decision systems for teacher evaluations adversely impact employment decisions and make inferences that impact compensation and tenure,” Ms. Nguyen said. “We will also keep a finger on the pulse of business model change, like shifts in digital advertising ecosystems, to help the FTC understand the implications on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.”
The technologists will have expertise in artificial intelligence, data, software and understanding the digital marketplace.
Ms. Nguyen said her team has already begun working with attorneys and data scientists to understand algorithms and to study data collection and selling that may harm consumers. She said her team is also tracking emerging tech involving augmented and virtual reality.
“To stay on top of developments, we can’t rely solely on a case-by-case approach to engaging experts,” Ms. Nguyen said. “We need to strengthen our in-house capacity to develop new skills and methods to investigate and mitigate widespread consumer and market harms.”
The FTC’s renewed pursuit of the tech sector comes amid its last Republican commissioner saying she is quitting the agency over “continuing lawlessness.”
Outgoing Commissioner Christine Wilson cited the FTC’s challenge to Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality platform Within Unlimited as the type of conduct she found objectionable, in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal.
After losing its bid to kill the acquisition in federal court, the FTC chose not to appeal and has its separate in-house review of Meta’s transaction.
Ms. Wilson complained that FTC Chair Lina Khan did not recuse herself from the internal review despite arguing in favor of blocking Meta from making any acquisitions before her tenure at the agency.
In her previous work as an antitrust lawyer, Ms. Wilson wrote that she told clients to make a noisy exit so people would remember their dissent and she had decided to do the same.
“Although serving as an FTC commissioner has been the highest honor of my professional career, I must follow my own advice and resign in the face of continuing lawlessness,” Ms. Wilson wrote. “Consider this my noisy exit.”
Alongside remaining Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, Ms. Khan said in a brief joint statement that they respect Ms. Wilson and wish her well in future endeavors.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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