FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director on Privacy Rules and AI Regulation

Chris Mufarrige, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, spoke last month at the National Advertising Division’s Annual Conference in Washington, providing further insight into how the FTC is thinking about key issues.

Mufarrige focused his remarks on privacy and AI. He said he views the basic principles for all consumer protection to be ensuring consumers can make well-informed choices and that companies keep their promises. 

FTC’s Evolving Approach to Privacy Enforcement

Mufarrige noted that individual preferences make abstract rules governing privacy difficult to draft and administer. He criticized the Lina Khan-led FTC for its efforts to use Section 5 of the FTC Act as an omnibus privacy statute. He said the agency should instead focus enforcement on specific privacy statutes such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) and use Section 5’s unfairness authority only where economic analysis shows consumer harm. 

Mufarrige noted that the agency is working on better understanding informational injury, which may inform which cases are brought. He also emphasized that the agency will use its Section 5 deception authority where companies do not keep their privacy promises. 

In contrast to the view of the FTC under Khan, Mufarrige recognized that the sharing of information on the Internet benefits consumers and allows much of the free content that consumers enjoy.

AI, Consumer Protection, and the FTC’s Regulatory Priorities

Mufarrige noted that the goal of the Trump administration is to promote economic growth through AI and not to strangle it with regulation. That said, he noted that the agency will target bad actors who use AI to promote fraud or make false claims about the AI products they sell.

In response to questions at the end of his remarks, Mufarrige said the agency is still working on the Green Guides, and the public may hear more on them soon. He also indicated that the agency is still looking at the Business Opportunity and Earnings Claims Rules circulated at the end of the Biden administration. 

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