The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) plays a vitally important role in protecting consumers and the competitive process. However, this role is limited to the enforcement of existing laws as enacted by Congress and focused on cases where there is demonstrable and legitimate harm. Under current leadership, the FTC has brought complaints against companies using untested legal theory and pursued rulemaking authority under an expansive reading of Section 5. In response to the Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee Hearing, the American Consumer Institute has released a series addressing the changes at the FTC and how they undermine consumer interests in the competitive process.
Another Federal Agency Is Turning Itself into a Rulemaking Body at Consumers’ Expense
It’s no secret that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan desires to play a greater role in enforcing antitrust law and promoting consumer protection. From an ambitious new agency vision and priority memos to the rescinding of former policy statements, the FTC has made it clear that it intends to establish an aggressive new regulatory regime.
This new regime increasingly relies upon powers that the agency does not possess and that Congress never delegated to it. The FTC seems intent on exercising these powers regardless of their impact on consumers, who are harmed when the agency deviates from its original mission: “to prevent business practices that are anti-competitive or deceptive or unfair to consumers.”
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