Cambridge Analytica EPIC v. FTC Federal Trade Commission FTC
FTC Commissioner Chopra: "FTC orders are not suggestions"
Incoming Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra issued a memo today warning that the FTC will enforce its consent orders against companies that violate the law. "FTC orders are not suggestions," said Chopra. Chopra said the FTC should seek structural remedies as well as monetary fines. EPIC has repeatedly told the FTC to enforce its orders, and even sued the agency, EPIC v. FTC, for failing to enforce the order against Google following the Buzz fiasco. More recently, EPIC and a coalition of consumer groups told the FTC that the Cambridge Analytica breach could have been avoided had FTC enforced the 2011 Consent Order against Facebook. The FTC has since confirmed that it is investigating Facebook for the breach. According to the former Acting Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, "Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements. Accordingly, the FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook."