After investigating Snap for compliance with a 2014 privacy settlement, the agency found “reason to believe Snap is violating or is about to violate the law” related to its My AI chatbot. We don’t yet know the details of the complaint, but Snap spokesperson Monique Bellamy says it’s “based on inaccuracies, and lacks concrete evidence.”
[www.ftc.gov]
The longtime staffer of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), a former Commerce Committee chair, could be the final vote for incoming FCC chair Brendan Carr’s agenda, if confirmed by the Senate. That agenda includes things like revoking broadcast licenses from networks he thinks aren’t operating fairly and reforming Section 230 to crack down on what he sees as censorship of conservatives.
[Truth Social]
The agency finalized an update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule requiring sites to obtain parental consent for their kids receive targeted advertising. Though incoming chair Andrew Ferguson voted for the rule, he says there’s still changes he’d like to see, blaming “the Biden-Harris FTC’s frantic rush to finalize rules on their way out the door.”
[Federal Trade Commission]
The Federal Trade Commission is nearing a deal with the company behind the popular video game over its allegedly deceptive digital offerings, Bloomberg reports. The agency has been interested in consumer protection issues around loot boxes for a while, and now Bloomberg says a settlement over Genshin Impact could come as soon as this week.
It would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days, extending the timeline for a sale, The Washington Post reports. Trump’s AG pick Pam Bondi also wouldn’t commit to enforcing the TikTok law. But either of those routes wouldn’t eliminate the risk of Apple and Google hosting the app on their app stores after January 19th.
[The Washington Post]
The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department didn’t take a position on the appropriate outcome, but write in a statement of interest that holding a seat on two competing boards can violate antitrust law — even if the board member foregoes one. At issue is Reid Hoffman’s simultaneous participation on the OpenAI and Microsoft boards.