UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

Federal Trade Commission 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20580 

Office of the Chair 

Testimony of Chair Lina M. Khan 

Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on 

Financial Services and General Government 

May 18, 2022 

I. INTRODUCTION 

Chairman Quigley, Ranking Member Womack, and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 

inviting me to testify today.1 My testimony will address the Commission’s FY 2023 budget request, 

spotlight the important work the Federal Trade Commission is doing to ensure open, competitive, and fair 

markets on behalf of consumers, workers, and honest businesses, and highlight some of the challenges 

before us. 

The FTC is at the front lines of many of the most pressing issues Americans face today—from 

corporate mergers that can enable firms to hike prices and slash wages, to massive data breaches that can 

expose Americans’ most sensitive and personal information. The FTC is charged with tackling unfair or 

deceptive practices—be it businesses who lie about products being Made in America, fraudsters who 

peddle fake COVID cures, or firms who abuse consumer data—and we’re responsible for rooting out 

unfair methods of competition that can crush entrepreneurs and stifle innovation. Our jurisdiction spans 

the entirety of the U.S. economy, and Congress has assigned us the task of enforcing or administering 

provisions across over 80 statutes.2 

Given the urgent problems facing Americans, we are aggressively using the full set of tools and 

authorities that Congress has granted us. While I continue to be impressed by the tenacity and creativity 

of our staff in the face of an ever-increasing workload, defendants with seemingly endless resources, and 

legal challenges to our authority, there is much more we need to do. A key prerequisite is additional 

resources, which is why the Commission has requested $490 million in FY 2023. I am confident that this 

level of increase would enable us to more fully and effectively deliver on our mission. 

Indeed, funding increases that Congress provided the FTC in recent years have contributed to key 

achievements. This critical support has helped us continue our far-reaching work to protect Americans, 

particularly in the wake of an ongoing pandemic and a historic merger wave. I commend the talented FTC 

staff for the skill and dedication with which they have diligently advanced the agency’s mission, despite 

these challenges. 

I take seriously the importance of ensuring that agency funds are put to the most effective use. 

Accordingly, I have asked staff to orient our enforcement efforts around targeting and rectifying root 

causes to avoid a whack-a-mole approach that imposes significant enforcement burden with few long1 This written testimony reflects my own views. The oral statement and responses to questions are also my own and 

do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or any other Commissioner. 

2 Legal Library: Statutes, FED. TRADE COMM’N, https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statutes (last visited May 

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term benefits. We are also ensuring that our work is tackling the most significant harm across markets, 

particularly by dominant firms whose business practices affect huge swaths of Americans. Lastly, we are 

focused on the need to be forward-looking in anticipating problems and taking swift action, especially as 

it concerns next-generation technologies and nascent markets across sectors. Orienting our work around 

these principles can help maximize our efficacy. 

I. BUDGET AND RESOURCES 

Currently, the FTC has around 1,200 employees. The FTC’s full-time employee headcount fell in 

2017 and 2018, and the total headcount today remains about two-thirds of what it was at the beginning of 

1980.3 Meanwhile, the scope of investigation and litigation discovery has expanded exponentially over 

recent decades, with voluminous electronic submissions demanding substantial staff resources. Mergerfiling fees have also failed to keep pace with the exponential increases in dollar volume of each filing. 

Instead, per-transaction filing fees have stagnated for 20 years, even as the economy and the size of the 

deals have ballooned.4 Recent trends—with a historic surge in merger filings5 and spikes in reported 

consumer fraud6

—have only underscored both the importance of our work and the critical need for 

additional resources. 

The FTC’s enacted budget for FY 2022 is $376.5 million, which will fund 1,225 FTEs. For FY 

2023, the FTC is requesting $490.0 million and 1,440 FTEs. This request to increase our budget by 

$113.5 million will fund an additional 215 FTEs and enable us to address in part the increased demand on 

agency staff and resources. During FY 2022, we plan to grow by approximately 85 FTEs, taking us from 

1,140 FTEs to 1,225. This will cover approximately 28% of the 300 FTEs requested in our FY 2023 

budget request. That will leave approximately 215 FTEs to hire, or growth of approximately 18% over 

our FY 2022 FTE level of 1,225. For FY 2023, we plan to deploy existing hiring strategies to build on the 

growth started in FY 2022 to recruit any additional FTEs the agency may receive in the FY 2023 budget. 

This budget request leverages the agency’s existing Regional Office structure to expand the 

agency’s candidate pool and community presence, promote the expansion of telework, and implement a 

nimbler workforce that will work seamlessly on both consumer protection and competition matters. Fully 

executing on our mission requires that our analytical capabilities keep up with changing market realities, 

and this budget request accordingly seeks to better position us to recruit a range of experts, including 

financial analysts, technologists, and others. These skills will allow us to continue building in-house 

expertise, supporting our ability to conduct market-wide inquiries and scrutinize emerging business 

practices. 

The FY 2023 budget request also funds additional expert witness levels commensurate with the 

additional FTE levels, given our need to support expert work in litigation, particularly in cases against 

large, well-financed defendants. 

Additionally, the FTC seeks additional resources for systems modernization and infrastructure 

3 FTC Appropriation and Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) History, FED. TRADE COMM’N, https://www.ftc.gov/aboutftc/bureaus-offices/office-executive-director/financial-management-office/ftc-appropriation (showing 1719 FTE in 

1980 and 1123 FTE in 2021) (last visited May 17, 2022). 

4 Id. 5 In fiscal year 2021, the FTC and DOJ received notice of 3,520 transactions. This represents a 66% increase over 

the 10-year high. 6 Over the past five years, annual consumer complaints we receive has increased from 2.9 to 5.7 million. Consumer 

fraud reports alone increased from 1.3 to 2.8 million and reported consumer fraud losses exploded from $1.1 billion 

in 2017 to over $5 billion in 2021. 

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upgrades to support a larger decentralized workforce. The FTC requests funding to support the necessary 

equipment and overhead for the additional FTEs and to modernize applications that directly support our 

mission, like the comprehensive complaint database known as the Consumer Sentinel Network, which is 

accessible to law enforcement agencies across the country and internationally. 

The FTC’s budget request would be offset by fees collected from HSR filings. When possible, the 

agency collects money to return to harmed consumers. During FY 2021, the FTC returned $607 million in 

nonentity collections to consumers and the U.S. Treasury General Fund. Redress disbursements to 

harmed consumers during FY 2021 totaled $453 million,7 with an additional $8 million in disgorgements 

to Treasury. Civil penalty collections returned to Treasury totaled $146 million. 

Throughout FY 2021, the FTC saved consumers an estimated $2.4 billion through its merger and 

nonmerger competition law enforcement actions and an estimated $1.5 billion through its consumer 

protection law enforcement actions.8 For FY 2021, every $1 of the FTC’s cost returned an estimated $36 

in FTC-provided benefits to consumers. I expect that a larger budget would position us to further improve 

on this already impressive return on investment. 

II. COMPETITION MISSION 

Robust enforcement of the antitrust laws delivers enormous benefits for the American public. 

Law enforcement to block unlawful mergers or halt unfair methods of competition can contribute to lower 

prices and higher wages, while preserving quality and access. Strong enforcement can also promote 

entrepreneurship and new business growth, enabling start-ups and small businesses the opportunity to 

compete on the merits. 

Over recent years, empirical research has shown that significant consolidation has undermined 

fair, open, and competitive markets, enabling firms to hike prices and lower wages, while also sapping 

investment, reducing innovation, and undermining entrepreneurship and new business formation.9 Recent 

events have also underscored the ways in which a lack of competition can render our supply chains more 

brittle, leaving us less resilient in the face of shocks,10 and the Department of Defense has recently stated 

7 All of the redress disbursements in FY 2021 were from cases that were resolved prior to the Supreme Court’s April 

2021 decision in AMG Capital Management, LLC. v. FTC, 141 S. Ct. 1341 (2021), which invalidated the 

Commission’s ability to obtain refunds for consumers under Section 13(b) of the FTC Act. Once the Commission 

completes distribution of funds obtained in cases resolved prior to AMG, future Commission distributions will 

decrease due to the loss of the ability to obtain monetary relief under Section 13(b). 8 These estimates were calculated based on performance measures 1.1.3 (consumer savings from consumer 

protection law enforcement), 2.1.3 (consumer savings from merger enforcement), and 2.1.5 (consumer savings from 

non-merger enforcement). For more details on measurement and data quality, see the FTC Data Quality Appendix, 

FED. TRADE COMM’N, https://www.ftc.gov/reports/2018-2022-performance-data-quality-appendix (last visited May 

12, 2022). 

9 See, e.g., José A. Azar et al., Concentration in US Labor Markets 13 (Nat’l Bureau of Econ. Res., Working Paper 

No. 24395, 2018); Simcha Barkai, Declining Labor and Capital Shares, 75 J. FIN. 2421, 2422-45, 48 (2020); Jan De 

Loecker et al., The Rise of Market Power and the Macroeconomic Implications, 135 Q.J. ECON. 561, 644 (2020); 

Germán Gutiérrez & Thomas Philippon, Investmentless Growth: An Empirical Investigation, BROOKINGS PAPER ON 

ECON. ACTIVITY 89, 95–97 (2017); see also IAN HATHAWAY & ROBERT E. LITAN, WHAT’S DRIVING THE DECLINE IN 

THE FIRM FORMATION RATE? A PARTIAL EXPLANATION (Nov. 2014). 10 Ben Popken, In Struggle to Fix Supply Chain, Small Businesses Fear Losing Out to Larger Companies With More 

Spending Power, NBC NEWS (Oct. 13, 2021), https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/struggle-fix-supplychain-small-businesses-fear-losing-out-larger-n1281467; Kerem Inal, Supply Chain Problems Forcing Small 

Businesses to Change How They Operate, ABC NEWS (Oct. 24, 2021), https://abcnews.go.com/Business/supply3 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that a lack of competition in the defense industrial base poses a threat to national security.11 Robust 

antitrust enforcement is especially critical against this backdrop. 

A. Merger Enforcement 

One of the FTC’s principal responsibilities is to enforce the law against mergers that may 

substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly. As the front-line defense against unlawful 

consolidation, merger enforcement is critically important. Robust enforcement can also serve as a highly 

cost-effective tool to guard against market structures that facilitate illegal conduct such as tacit 

coordination and monopolization. 

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, businesses proposing certain mergers and acquisitions must 

make a premerger notification filing with the federal antitrust agencies and comply with the statutory 

waiting period before completing their transactions.12 After the number of reported transactions fell for 

fiscal year 2020, which also covered much of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic,13 global dealmaking in 2021 soared to $5.8 trillion, the highest level ever recorded.14 An astounding 3,644 transactions 

were reported to the FTC and DOJ in FY 2021, a figure that is 87% higher than the average number of 

transactions reported over the past five years.15 

I am grateful to Congress for providing increased funding to the FTC over the past two fiscal 

years, and our staff has worked tirelessly to meet the enormous demand of enforcing the laws against 

unlawful mergers amid a historic surge. Yet it remains extremely challenging to fully resource the FTC’s 

competition mission, especially merger investigations,16 and our FTE count is well below what is needed 

to fully deliver.

17 Indeed, many mergers require resource-intensive investigations potentially involving 

tens of thousands of documents and massive volumes of data. The combination of the merger boom, 

inadequate resources, and strict deadlines under HSR has resulted in thinly stretched staff and concerning 

deals getting a more cursory review than they warrant. While we endeavor to investigate fully deals that 

may be unlawful, these circumstances have forced difficult choices about how to handle situations where 

a proposed merger appears to raise legal concerns but we lack the resources to fully investigate it within 

chain-problems-forcing-small-businesses-change-operate/story?id=80713564; Jane Callen, U.S. Small Businesses 

Suffer Supply Chain Disruptions, U.S. CENSUS BUR. (Aug. 9, 2021), 

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/united-states-small-businesses-suffer-supply-chain-disruptions.html. 11 DEP’T OF DEFENSE, OFF. OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR ACQUISITION AND SUSTAINMENT, STATE OF 

COMPETITION WITHIN THE DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE, at 2 (Feb. 2022) [hereinafter “DEP’T OF DEFENSE 

COMPETITION REPORT”]. 12 I believe that the waiting period under the Act—a short 30-day window that the agencies are given to decide 

whether a deal warrants closer investigation—is ripe for revisiting by Congress. Statement of Chair Lina M. Khan 

Joined by Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter Regarding the FY 2020 Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for 

Transmittal to Congress, at 2 (Nov. 8, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/publicstatements/statement-chair-lina-m-khan-joined-commissioner-rebecca-kelly-slaughter-regarding-fy-2020-hart-scott. 13 FED TRADE COMM’N & DEP’T OF JUST., HART-SCOTT-RODINO ANNUAL REP., FISCAL YEAR, at 1-2 (2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/hart-scott-rodino-annual-report-fiscal-year-2020/fy2020_-

_hsr_annual_report_-_final.pdf. 14 Kaye Wiggins et al., Dealmaking Surges Past $5.8tn to Highest Levels on Record, FIN. TIMES (Dec. 30, 2021), 

https://www.ft.com/content/6dfdd78a-e229-4524-a400-144396524eb6. 15 FTC & DEP’T OF JUSTICE, HART-SCOTT-RODINO ANNUAL REP. FISCAL YEAR 2020, Exh. A, Tbl. I, Tbl. IV (2021). 16 Nearly 70 percent of full-time employees in the Bureau of Competition, as well as many competition attorneys in 

the regional offices and elsewhere at the agency, focused on mergers in FY 2021. 

17 FTC Chair Lina M. Khan & Comm’r Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Statement of Chair Lina M. Khan Joined by 

Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter Regarding the FY 2020 Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Transmittal 

to Congress (Nov. 8, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/cases-proceedings/publicstatements/statement-chair-lina-m-khan-joined-commissioner-rebecca-kelly-slaughter-regarding-fy-2020-hart-scott. 

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the statutory timeframe. 

Nonetheless, we have harnessed our resources to great success, blocking transactions we 

identified as unlawful. For example, in December 2021 the FTC sued to block U.S. chip supplier Nvidia 

Corp.’s $40 billion acquisition of U.K. chip design provider Arm Ltd.18 The proposed merger would have 

given one of the largest chip companies control over its rivals’ designs for competing chips. The 

FTC’s complaint alleged that the combined firm would have the means and incentive to stifle nextgeneration technologies, including those used to run datacenters and driver-assistance systems in 

cars. More than two months into its litigation with the FTC, Nvidia abandoned its acquisition of Arm— 

representing the first abandonment of a litigated vertical merger in many years. The termination of what 

would have been the largest semiconductor merger ever preserved competition for key technologies and 

safeguarded future innovation. The FTC team, cooperating with competition agencies in the European 

Union, United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea, did outstanding work on the investigation and 

litigation. 

Our recent merger enforcement work has also protected competition in the defense industry. For 

example, in February 2022, the Commission filed a complaint to block the Lockheed/Aerojet defense 

merger, a $4.4 billion transaction that would have eliminated the country’s last independent supplier of 

key missile propulsion inputs and given Lockheed the ability to cut off its competitors’ access to these 

critical components.19 The FTC’s investigation, conducted in close collaboration with the Department of 

Defense, determined that the deal would have resulted in higher prices and diminished quality and 

innovation for programs critical to our national security. The Defense Department also recently stated that 

high consolidation within the defense industrial base poses a risk to national defense and has identified 

strong merger enforcement as a key tool for promoting greater competition.20 

We also continue to vigorously enforce the law against unlawful hospital consolidation. Most 

recently, the Commission in February 2022 voted unanimously to file, together with the state of Rhode 

Island, a complaint to block the merger of Lifespan Corporation and Care New England Health System, 

Rhode Island’s two largest healthcare providers, alleging the deal would lead to higher prices and lower 

quality care.21 Days after we filed the complaint, the parties abandoned the transaction. 

a. Key Initiatives to Strengthen Our Merger Enforcement Tools 

In addition to enforcing the law against unlawful mergers, the FTC is considering how we can 

better harness our tools to check unlawful deals. This includes a joint FTC-DOJ review of our primary 

enforcement manual, the merger guidelines, as well as an effort to modernize the information we collect 

about notified deals. 

In January, together with the Department of Justice, we began the process of revising our merger 

18 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Sues to Block $40 Billion Semiconductor Chip Merger (Dec. 2, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/12/ftc-sues-block-40-billion-semiconductor-chipmerger. 19 Statement Regarding Termination of Lockheed Martin Corporation’s Attempted Acquisition of Aerojet 

Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. (Feb. 15, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/02/statementregarding-termination-lockheed-martin-corporations-attempted-acquisition-aerojet. 20 See DEP’T OF DEFENSE COMPETITION REPORT, supra note 11, at 4. 21 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC and Rhode Island Attorney General Step in to Block Merger of Rhode 

Island’s Two Largest Healthcare Providers (Feb. 17, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/02/ftc-rhode-island-attorney-general-step-block-merger-rhode-islands-two-largest-healthcareproviders. 

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guidelines.22 This key enforcement manual is heavily relied upon by judges adjudicating merger 

challenges, by our staff in reviewing proposed mergers, and by private parties that represent merging 

parties. My goal is to ensure that our guidelines accurately reflect contemporary commercial realities, are 

faithful to our statutory mandate, and are administrable and predictable. 

A second initiative designed to improve the agency’s overall effectiveness in merger review is a 

revision of the merger notification form (“HSR form”), through a top-to-bottom review of the information 

we currently receive and an assessment of the additional information we need to effectively and 

efficiently identify transactions that need in-depth investigation. My goal is to introduce a new form that 

will collect upfront probative information about the merger, reducing the time and resources that agency 

staff has to spend processing the filings and screening them for potential illegal deals. I believe that the 

revised HSR form will streamline the entire merger review process and provide greater certainty to parties 

contemplating transactions. 

B. Enforcement Against Anticompetitive Conduct 

The FTC continues to maintain and develop a robust program to identify and stop anticompetitive 

conduct outside of the merger contexts. In January 2020, the FTC and the New York Attorney General 

Letitia James sued “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, his company, Vyera Pharmaceuticals, and others 

alleging that the company and its leaders raised the price of a life-saving drug by more than 4000%, and 

then engaged in unlawful conduct to maintain that revenue.23 In January 2022, the U.S. District Court 

held Shkreli liable for antitrust claims brought by the FTC and seven state enforcers. Finding that 

Shkreli’s conduct was egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous, the Court 

imposed a lifetime ban on Shkreli from participating in the pharmaceutical industry and found him liable 

for $64.6 million in disgorgement.24 The U.S. District Court’s decision to ban Shkreli for life from the 

pharmaceutical industry is a victory for Americans and should signal to corporate executives that they 

may be held personally liable for antitrust violations that they direct. 

Last year, the Commission also successfully amended its complaint against Facebook (d/b/a/ 

Meta) in a lawsuit that, in addition to other forms of relief, seeks the divestment of Instagram and 

Whatsapp. The amended complaint alleges that after repeated failed attempts to develop innovative 

mobile features for its network, Facebook instead resorted to an illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its 

dominance. 25 According to the complaint, the company unlawfully acquired innovative competitors with 

popular mobile features that succeeded where Facebook’s own offerings failed. To further protect its 

monopoly, Facebook allegedly lured app developers to the platform, surveilled them for indications of 

22 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department Seek to Strengthen 

Enforcement Against Illegal Mergers (Jan. 18, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/01/federal-trade-commission-justice-department-seek-strengthen-enforcement-against-illegal-mergers. 23 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC and NY Attorney General Charge Vyera Pharmaceuticals, Martin 

Shkreli, and Other Defendants with Anticompetitive Scheme to Protect a List-Price Increase of More than 4,000 

Percent for Life-Saving Drug Daraprim (Jan. 27, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2020/01/ftc-ny-attorney-general-charge-vyerapharmaceuticals-martin-shkreli-other-defendants-anticompetitive. 24 Statement of Chair Lina M. Khan on the Ruling by Judge Denise L. Cote Federal Trade Commission et al. v. 

Vyera Pharms., LLC et al. (Jan. 14, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/01/statementchair-lina-m-khan-ruling-judge-denise-l-cote-federal-trade-commission-et-al-v-vyera. 25 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Alleges Facebook Resorted to Illegal Buy-or-Bury Scheme to Crush 

Competition After String of Failed Attempts to Innovate (Aug. 19, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/news/press-releases/2021/08/ftc-alleges-facebook-resorted-illegal-buy-or-bury-scheme-crush-competitionafter-string-failed. 

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success, and then squashed those that were positioned to become competitive threats.26 In January of this 

year, D.C. District Judge James E. Boasberg denied Facebook’s motion to dismiss the FTC’s case, which 

allows the Commission’s antitrust lawsuit to continue. 

III. CONSUMER PROTECTION MISSION 

As Americans struggle with the economic precarity caused by the pandemic and rising prices for 

essential goods, scammers and unscrupulous businesses have found new ways to exploit them. Indeed, 

over the past few years, the Commission has seen a soaring number of reports about business imposters,27 

substantial losses stemming from online shopping and undelivered merchandise,28 a rising number of 

cryptocurrency29 and other income scams,30 work-from-home scams, fake check scams, and deceptive 

online trading offers.31Between 2019 and 2021, the number of consumer reports has increased by over 67 

percent, from 3.4 million reports in 2019 to 5.7 million reports in 2021.32 

Our analyses also show that digital platforms have become fertile ground for fraud and abuse. 

More than one in four people who reported losing money to a scam in 2021 said that the scam started with 

a contact on social media.33 What’s more, the number of reports has increased nineteen-fold since 2017, 

with reported losses of about $770 million in 2021.34 This is no accident. The opaque algorithms that 

social media platforms use to promote engagement, and the vast reams of data they have on users, arm 

scammers with potent tools to target consumers with harmful content. And while platforms may take this 

content down when it is flagged, this is often after it has already spread far and wide. 

Fraud is not the only challenge stemming from the increased digitization. We’ve seen how 

security vulnerabilities can have sweeping effects, disrupting fuel supply for an entire segment of the 

country and halting meat processing operations nationwide.35 We’ve also seen how privacy breaches can 

be materially consequential, with violations exposing millions of children during the course of doing their 

26 Id. 27 Emma Fletcher, Amazon Tops List of Impersonated Businesses, FTC CONSUMER PROTECTION DATA SPOTLIGHT 

(Oct. 20, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2021/10/amazon-tops-listimpersonated-businesses. 28 Emma Fletcher, Pandemic Purchases Lead to Record Reports of Unreceived Goods, FTC CONSUMER 

PROTECTION DATA SPOTLIGHT (July 1, 2020), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/dataspotlight/2020/07/pandemic-purchases-lead-record-reports-unreceived-goods. 29 Emma Fletcher, Cryptocurrency Buzz Drives Record Investment Scam Losses, FTC CONSUMER PROTECTION 

DATA SPOTLIGHT (May 17, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/data-spotlight/2021/05/cryptocurrencybuzz-drives-record-investment-scam-losses. 30 Consumer Sentinel Network, FED. TRADE COMM’N, https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/consumer-sentinel-network 

(noting that income scams increased in 2021 over 2020 and were driven by investment and job scams) (last visited 

May 16, 2022). 

31 Emma Fletcher, Income Scams: Big Promises, Big Losses, FTC CONSUMER PROTECTION DATA SPOTLIGHT (Dec. 

10, 2020), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/data-spotlight/2020/12/income-scams-big-promises-big-losses. 32 The increase is due in part to the addition of new data contributors, such as the Social Security Administration 

Office of Inspector General and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. 

33 Emma Fletcher, Social Media a Gold Mine for Scammers in 2021, FTC CONSUMER PROTECTION DATA 

SPOTLIGHT (Jan. 25, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/data-spotlight/2022/01/social-media-gold-minescammers-2021. 34 Id. 35 See, e.g., Collin Eaton & Amrith Ramkumar, Colonial Pipeline Shutdown: Is There a Gas Shortage and When 

Will the Pipeline Be Fixed?, WALL ST. J. (May 13, 2021), https://www.wsj.com/articles/colonial-pipelinecyberattack-hack-11620668583; Fabiana Batista et al., All of JBS’s U.S. Beef Plants Were Forced Shut by 

Cyberattack, BLOOMBERG (May 31, 2021), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-31/meat-is-latestcyber-victim-as-hackers-hit-top-supplier-jbs. 

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schoolwork, or resulting in the purchase and sale of individuals’ sensitive health data.36 And, greater 

adoption of workplace surveillance technologies and facial recognition tools is expanding data collection 

in newly invasive and potentially discriminatory ways.37 

To respond to these trends, the Commission is not only challenging individual illegal activity but 

also taking comprehensive action to deter and disrupt practices across industries that harm consumers. My 

goal is to tackle these problems broadly, casting a wide net to stop illegal conduct that causes massive 

consumer harm. The agency also engages in data analysis to spot and respond to emerging threats and 

consumer education to augment our law enforcement efforts. In the past year, the Commission has 

focused its efforts on digital harms, COVID and other fraud, and ensuring that workers and small 

businesses aren’t cheated. And, despite the major setback to the Commission’s ability to recover equitable 

monetary remedies from the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG,

38 the agency has deployed new tools and 

reinvigorated old ones to get money back to consumers where possible. 

A. Protecting Against Digital Harms 

The Commission is taking a comprehensive approach to curbing and deterring unlawful data 

practices, including conduct that harms user privacy or data security. First, we are directing our limited 

resources to areas where we can have a market-wide impact. For example, last year the Commission 

finalized amendments to the Safeguards Rule, which requires non-bank financial firms across the 

economy to ensure they are protecting consumers’ sensitive information.39 In addition, the Commission 

issued a policy statement affirming that health apps and connected devices that collect or use consumers’ 

health information must comply with the FTC’s Health Breach Notification Rule.40 Our enforcement 

actions also reflect a commitment to widespread impact. For example, last year, the Commission took 

action against OpenX—a major advertising platform charged with illegally collecting information from 

children across hundreds of apps, and with collecting geolocation information without consumers’ 

consent. The Commission obtained an order requiring OpenX to halt its violations, delete its ad request 

data, and pay a civil penalty of $2 million. 41 

36 See, e.g., Joe Heim, Computer Hackers Attack Fairfax County School System, WASH. POST (Sept. 11, 2020), 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/computer-hackers-attack-fairfax-county-schoolsystem/2020/09/11/5a944d32-f474-11ea-999c-67ff7bf6a9d2_story.html; DEP’T OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVS., 

OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, BREACH PORTAL: NOTICE TO THE SECRETARY OF HHS BREACH OF UNSECURED 

PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION, CASES CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION, 

https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach/breach_report.jsf (last visited Apr. 27, 2022). 37 Kathryn Zickuhr, Workplace Surveillance is Becoming the New Normal for U.S. Workers, WASH. CTR. FOR EQ. 

GROWTH (Aug. 18, 2021), https://equitablegrowth.org/research-paper/workplace-surveillance-is-becoming-the-newnormal-for-u-s-workers/; Aaron Rieke & Miranda Bogen, Help Wanted: An Examination of Hiring Algorithms, 

Equity, and Bias, UPTURN (Dec. 10, 2018), https://www.upturn.org/work/help-wanted/; NAT’L INST. OF STANDARDS 

AND TECH., TOWARDS A STANDARD FOR IDENTIFYING AND MANAGING BIAS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (2022), 

https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.1270.pdf (NIST Special Pub. 1270). 38 AMG Capital Management, LLC. v. FTC, 141 S. Ct. 1341 (2021). 39 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Strengthens Security Safeguards for Consumer Financial Information 

Following Widespread Data Breaches (Oct. 27, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2021/10/ftc-strengthens-security-safeguards-consumer-financial-information-following-widespread-data. 40 FTC, Statement of the Commission on Breaches by Health Apps and Other Connected Devices (Sept. 15, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/statement-commission-breaches-health-apps-other-connected-devices 

[hereinafter Statement on Breaches by Health Apps]. See also FTC, Mobile Health App Developers: FTC Best 

Practices (Apr. 2016), https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/mobile-health-app-developers-ftc-bestpractices (FTC business guidance). 41 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Advertising Platform OpenX Will Pay $2 Million for Collecting Personal 

Information from Children in Violation of Children’s Privacy Law (Dec. 15, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news8 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second, we are pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to combatting digital harms, assessing data 

practices through both a consumer protection and competition lens. Given the intersecting ways in which 

widescale data collection and commercial surveillance practices can facilitate violations of both consumer 

protection and antitrust laws, we are using our experience and expertise in both areas to ensure we 

understand the full implications of business conduct and strategies. We are also increasing our use of 

technologists alongside the skilled lawyers, economists, and investigators who lead our enforcement 

work. We have already increased the number of technologists on our staff—drawing from diverse 

skillsets, including data scientists and engineers, user design experts, and AI researchers—and we plan to 

continue building up this team. 

Third, we are focusing on designing effective remedies for law violations that address the 

business incentives that drive firms to engage in these unlawful practices. This includes pursuing relief 

that will fully cure the harm caused by these practices and reverse the incentives to break the law. For 

example, the Commission recently took action against a Weight Watchers subsidiary, Kurbo, alleging that 

the company illegally collected children’s sensitive personal information, including their names, eating 

habits, daily activities, weight, birth date, and persistent identifiers.42 Our order required not only that the 

business pay a penalty, but also that it delete its ill-gotten data where parents did not consent to the 

collection, and that it destroy any algorithms derived from that data.43 Also, where appropriate, our 

remedies force executive accountability through limits on executives’ conduct. In our action against 

SpyFone, for example, the FTC banned both the company and its CEO from the surveillance business, 

resolving allegations that they sold software that allowed a purchaser to surreptitiously monitor another 

person’s phone, which enabled secret real-time access to data on a range of sensitive activity.44 Lastly, we 

are committed to evolving our remedies to reflect the latest best practices in security and privacy. For 

example, in our recent action against CafePress, our settlement remedied an alleged breach by requiring 

the use of multi-factor authentication that uses a secure authentication protocol—reflecting the latest 

thinking in secure credentialing.45 

The Commission is also cracking down on dark patterns that fuel digital deception. We have seen 

how some marketers use dark patterns to trick consumers into incurring unwanted charges or 

subscriptions during online transactions.46 Last year, we held a workshop to examine these practices, and 

shortly thereafter issued a Policy Statement making clear that these tricks and traps were against the law, 

events/news/press-releases/2021/12/advertising-platform-openx-will-pay-2-million-collecting-personal-informationchildren-violation. 42 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Takes Action Against Company Formerly Known as Weight Watchers 

for Illegally Collecting Kids’ Sensitive Health Data (Mar. 4, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/03/ftc-takes-action-against-company-formerly-known-weight-watchers-illegally-collecting-kidssensitive. 43 Stipulated Order, United States v. Kurbo Inc. (N.D. Cal. 2022) (No. 3:22-cv-00946), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/wwkurbostipulatedorder.pdf. 44 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Bans SpyFone and CEO from Surveillance Business and Orders 

Company to Delete All Secretly Stolen Data (Sept. 1, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2021/09/ftc-bans-spyfone-ceo-surveillance-business-orders-company-delete-all-secretly-stolen-data. 45 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Takes Action Against CafePress for Data Breach Cover Up (Mar. 15, 

2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/03/ftc-takes-action-against-cafepress-databreach-cover. 46 See Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Children’s Online Learning Program ABCmouse to Pay $10 Million to 

Settle FTC Charges of Illegal Marketing and Billing Practices (Sept. 2, 2020), https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/press-releases/2020/09/childrens-online-learning-program-abcmouse-pay-10-million-settle. 

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and that cancelling a subscription service should be no more difficult than signing up.47 The Commission 

also authorized an omnibus resolution making it easier for our staff to investigate these harmful practices. 

Finally, to further understand and shed light on social media practices, in December 2020, the 

Commission issued orders to nine social media and video streaming companies including Facebook, Inc. 

(now Meta Platforms, Inc.), YouTube LLC, and ByteDance Ltd, which is the parent company of TikTok. 

These Orders cover a broad range of social media practices, including how these companies collect and 

use personal information, their advertising and user engagement practices, and how their practices affect 

children and teens. The FTC is committed to tackling emerging threats, adjusting our strategies wherever 

necessary, and working in close coordination with our law enforcement partners at the local, state, and 

federal level. 

B. Protecting Honest Businesses and Workers 

As American workers and small businesses attempt to recover from the effects of the pandemic, 

the Commission is taking a comprehensive approach—through enforcement, rulemaking, and advocacy— 

to ensuring that they are not held back by unfair or deceptive practices. 

First, the Commission is taking aggressive enforcement action to hold accountable those who 

exploit small businesses and gig workers. In January, we banned Richmond Capital, a financing entity 

that allegedly preyed on small businesses, from the merchant cash advance and debt collection industry.48 

Later that month, we required Dun and Bradstreet—the nation’s largest provider of small business credit 

reports—to reform how it treated small businesses, including by giving them new tools to correct 

inaccuracies on their reports.49 In March, the Commission filed an administrative complaint charging the 

gig platform HomeAdvisor with making false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims about the quality and 

source of the leads the company sells to service providers, such as general contractors and small lawn care 

businesses, who are in search of potential customers. And since November 2021, the FTC has sent more 

than $60 million to 141,000 Amazon Flex drivers who allegedly had their tips deceptively withheld.50 

The Commission has also revived enforcement of its Franchise Rule, which is designed to protect 

franchisees from unscrupulous practices. In February, we partnered with DOJ to file a suit against fastfood chain Burgerim, alleging that the chain made false promises and withheld information required by 

the Franchise Rule to persuade more than 1,500 consumers, many of them veterans, to purchase 

47 See Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC to Ramp up Enforcement against Illegal Dark Patterns that Trick or 

Trap Consumers into Subscriptions (Oct. 28, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2021/10/ftc-ramp-enforcement-against-illegal-dark-patterns-trick-or-trap-consumers-subscriptions. 48 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Merchant Cash Advance Providers Banned from Industry, Ordered to Redress 

Small Businesses (Jan. 5, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/01/merchant-cashadvance-providers-banned-industry-ordered-redress-small-businesses. 49 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, In Response to FTC Charges, Dun & Bradstreet to Clean Up Small Business 

Credit Reporting Process and Refund Customers (Jan. 13, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/01/response-ftc-charges-dun-bradstreet-clean-small-business-credit-reporting-process-refundcustomers. 50 Order, In re Amazon.com, Inc. (F.T.C. 2021) (No. C-4746), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/1923123c4746amazonflexorder1.pdf (requiring Amazon to return 

all of the money it withheld from drivers). See also Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Returns Nearly $60 

Million to Drivers Whose Tips Were Illegally Withheld by Amazon (Nov. 2, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/news/press-releases/2021/11/ftc-returns-nearly-60-million-drivers-whose-tips-were-illegally-withheldamazon. 

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franchises.51 We have also taken steps to make it easier for franchisees to file complaints with the 

Commission. 

In addition to enforcement, the Commission is initiating efforts to ensure that bad actors across 

the marketplace pay a high price for preying on workers and small businesses. Last year, the Commission 

announced that it was resurrecting its Penalty Offense Authority to deter illegal practices market-wide and 

to protect consumers from scams that prey on economic precarity. The Penalty Offense Authority 

empowers the Commission to seek civil penalties of up to $46,517 per violation if an entity engages in 

conduct that the Commission has previously found unfair or deceptive in an administrative order other 

than a consent.52 To trigger this authority, the FTC can send a Notice of Penalty Offenses outlining 

conduct that the Commission has determined is unlawful. In October 2021, the Commission sent Notice 

of Penalty Offenses to more than 1,100 businesses, including dozens of companies operating in the gig 

economy, putting them on notice that misleading money-making claims could lead to civil penalties.53 

The Commission is also considering rulemakings to better protect workers and small businesses, 

as well as consumers. In February, the agency launched a rulemaking to address deceptive or unfair 

marketing using earnings claims.54 If finalized, the rule would allow the FTC to recover redress for 

defrauded consumers, and seek steep penalties against any multilevel marketers, for-profit colleges, “gig 

economy” platforms, and other bad actors who prey on people’s hopes for economic advancement.55 And 

in April, the Commission proposed significant amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule that would 

provide new protections for small businesses against telemarketing tricks and traps.56 

Finally, to ensure we are taking a comprehensive approach to labor harms, we also forge law 

enforcement partnerships and engage in advocacy. We are coordinating closely with DOJ and the 

National Labor Relations Board over labor concerns, for example, and in December 2021, we filed an 

amicus brief in a class action suit by 7-Eleven franchisees in which we successfully argued that the FTC’s 

Franchise Rule cannot be used to obviate state-imposed labor protections.57 

C. Protecting Consumers from Fraud 

The FTC is taking action to stop unscrupulous actors from exploiting hard-working consumers 

through hidden fees, bogus claims about the income they can earn, and the training opportunities they can 

51 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Sues Burger Franchise Company That Targets Veterans and Others With 

False Promises and Misleading Documents (Feb. 8, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/02/ftc-sues-burger-franchise-company-targets-veterans-others-false-promises-misleading-documents. 52 15 U.S.C. § 45(m)(1)(B). 53 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Puts Businesses on Notice that False Money-Making Claims Could Lead 

to Big Penalties (Oct. 26, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-puts-businesses-noticefalse-money-making-claims-could-lead. 54 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Takes Action to Combat Bogus Money-Making Claims Used to Lure 

People into Dead-end Debt Traps (Feb. 17, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/02/ftc-takes-action-combat-bogus-money-making-claims-used-lure-people-dead-end-debt-traps. 55 Id. 56 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Federal Trade Commission Proposes Small Business Protections Against 

Telemarketing Tricks and Traps (Apr. 28, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/04/federal-trade-commission-proposes-small-business-protections-against-telemarketing-tricks-traps. 57 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Files Amicus Brief in Patel, v. 7-Eleven, Inc. (Dec. 6, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/12/ftc-files-amicus-brief-patel-v-7-eleven-inc. 

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receive from vocational schools. Consumers who are lured into these schemes can be driven deeply into 

debt and can be deprived of better opportunities.58 

Last month, the FTC and the Illinois Attorney General charged the Ed Napleton Automotive 

Group with tacking illegal junk fees for unwanted “add-ons” onto customers’ loans and discriminating 

against Black consumers by charging them more for financing.59 Napleton paid a record-setting $10 

million to settle the case and is required to implement a fair lending program.60 In February, Zurixx, LLC 

and its owners agreed to pay $12 million in redress to settle charges by the FTC and the State of Utah that 

they operated a massive real estate investment coaching scheme, using lavish false earnings claims to lure 

consumers into their scam. Similarly, in March, RagingBull.com and its co-founders agreed to pay $2.425 

million to settle charges that they marketed investment services with bogus earnings claims that harmed 

consumers, including immigrants and older adults, claiming that the pandemic was a great time to learn 

their secret trading techniques to make profits.61 

The Commission has also continued its long-fought efforts in protecting consumers from forprofit college fraud.62 In October, the FTC sent Penalty Offense Notices to 70 for-profit colleges 

regarding deceptive or misleading job and earning prospects.63 In February of this year, the FTC worked 

with the U.S. Department of Education as they announced the cancellation of more than $70 million in 

debt for defrauded DeVry students.64 This was on top of more than $100 million that the Commission has 

already returned to DeVry students.65 And last month, the FTC announced a settlement with St. James 

58 See, e.g., FED. RESERVE BANK OF N.Y., QUARTERLY REPORT ON HOUSEHOLD DEBT AND CREDIT (Nov. 2021), 

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2021Q3.pdf (showing that 

student loan debt accounted for approximately 10% of total household debt in the third quarter of 2021); see also 

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, COVID-19 ADDS TO ECONOMIC HARDSHIP OF THOSE MOST LIKELY TO HAVE STUDENT LOANS 

(Aug. 18, 2021), https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/student-debt-weighed-heavily-on-millions-evenbefore-pandemic.html (stating that “student loans are among the largest contributors to household debt”). 59 Stipulated Order, FTC v. N. Am. Auto. Servs., Inc. (N.D. Ill. 2022) (No. 1:22-cv-01690), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/6-1%20Stipulated%20Order.pdf. 60 Id. 61 Complaint, FTC v. RagingBull.com, LLC (D. Md. 2020) (No. 1:20-cv-03538), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/1_-_complaint_1.pdf; Stipulated Order, FTC v. RagingBull.com, 

LLC (D. Md. 2022) (No. 1:20-cv-03538), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/294-1_-

_proposed_stipulated_final_order_as_to_rb_defendants.pdf. 62 See, e.g., Stipulated Order, FTC v. U. of Phoenix, Inc. (D. Ariz. 2019) (No. 2:19-cv-05772), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/de_15_stipulated_order_for_permanent_injunction_and_monetar 

y_judgment.pdf (requiring the University of Phoenix and its parent company to pay $191 million to resolve 

allegations that they deceptively touted job opportunities); Stipulated Order, FTC v. Career Educ. Corp., (N.D. Ill. 

2019) (No. 1:19-cv-05739), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/de_11_-

_stipulated_order_for_permanent_injunction.pdf (providing $30 million in redress to consumers deceived by postsecondary and vocational schools’ use of alleged deceptive lead generators). 63 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Targets False Claims by For-Profit Colleges (Oct. 6, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-targets-false-claims-profit-colleges. 64 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Enforcement Action Leads U.S. Dept. of Education to Forgive $71.7 

Million in Loans for Students Deceived by DeVry University (Feb. 16, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/news/press-releases/2022/02/ftc-enforcement-action-leads-us-dept-education-forgive-717-million-loansstudents-deceived-devry. 65 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, DeVry University Agrees to $100 Million Settlement with FTC (Dec. 15, 

2016), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2016/12/devry-university-agrees-100-millionsettlement-ftc. 

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Medical School that returned more than $1 million to students in refunds and debt relief, while 

vindicating their rights under the Holder Rule.66 

The Commission is also pursuing an aggressive new strategy to combat the long-running scourge 

of imposter scams. For years, scammers have falsely claimed that they are calling from the IRS, the 

Social Security Administration, or other offices or businesses to steal data and money from hard-working 

Americans. But the number of business imposter reports, mostly driven by scammers pretending to be an 

online retailer, soared during the pandemic—more than tripling between 2019 and 2021,67 and topping 

$451 million in harm in 2021 alone.68 

In response to this alarming trend, the FTC launched an impersonator rulemaking to combat 

government and business impersonation fraud.69Codifying commonsense principles into rules helps 

ensure that scammers will pay a penalty for defrauding consumers and allows the Commission to seek 

redress for those who have been harmed. 

Likewise, deploying authority granted by Congress, the Commission is taking comprehensive 

action to protect the integrity of the “Made in America” label and crack down on scammers who would 

abuse it. Last year, we finalized a Rule regarding deceptive Made in America labels,70 and those who 

misuse the label can now face steep civil penalties on top of injunctions and other relief. Last month, we 

brought our first action under the rule, requiring a manufacturer of batteries to pay a civil penalty of triple 

its profits for mislabeling its products “Made in USA.”71 We continue to carefully monitor the market for 

false “Made in America” claims, particularly for personal protective equipment and other vital goods. 

Scammers who cheat consumers and American workers can expect to face heavy consequences under the 

Commission’s new rule. 

Finally, recognizing that deceptive and unfair practices may target and affect people from 

different communities in unique ways, in October, the Commission issued two reports providing updates 

on its efforts to serve communities of color and protect older consumers through aggressive law 

enforcement, outreach and education, and research on reporting rates of different consumer issues to 

inform the FTC’s work. The Serving Communities of Color staff report provided an update on the FTC’s 

progress in the past five years, including bringing more than 25 enforcement actions in which the 

Commission could identify that the conduct targeted or disproportionately impacted communities of color 

66 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Federal Trade Commission Takes Action Against For-Profit Medical School 

for Using Deceptive Marketing to Lure Students (Apr. 15, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/04/federal-trade-commission-takes-action-against-profit-medical-school-using-deceptive-marketinglure. 67 Consumer Sentinel Network, FED. TRADE COMM’N, https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/consumer-sentinel-network 

(noting that 106,732 business imposter reports received in 2019, and 394,742 received in 2021) (last visited May 16, 

2022). 

68 Consumer Sentinel Network, FED. TRADE COMM’N (data on file with the FTC). 69 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Launches Rulemaking to Combat Sharp Spike in Impersonation Fraud 

(Dec. 16, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/12/ftc-launches-rulemaking-combat-sharpspike-impersonation-fraud. 70 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Issues Rule to Deter Rampant Made in USA Fraud (July 1, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/07/ftc-issues-rule-deter-rampant-made-usa-fraud. 71 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Enforces New Made in USA Rule against Lithionics and Owner Steven 

Tartaglia for Falsely Labeling Foreign-Made Batteries as American (Apr. 13, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/newsevents/news/press-releases/2022/04/ftc-enforces-new-made-usa-rule-against-lithionics-owner-steven-tartagliafalsely-labeling-foreign. 

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and efforts to deliver consumer protection messages in an effective way.72 Likewise, the Commission’s 

report to Congress on Protecting Older Consumers highlighted the FTC’s efforts to protect older 

consumers through law enforcement actions, particularly scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic.73 

D. Fighting COVID Fraud 

The Commission has deployed its authority under the COVID-19 Consumer Protection Act74 

(CCPA) to ensure that bad actors face severe consequences for using the pandemic to prey on American 

consumers. This month, for example, the FTC halted a bogus credit repair scheme for allegedly charging 

consumers for credit repair services of little to no value and convincing them to use their COVID-19 

governmental benefits to invest in a bogus business opportunity that was essentially starting their own 

bogus credit repair scheme.75 In March, the FTC, jointly with the U.S. Department of Justice and the 

Food and Drug Administration, filed a lawsuit against B4B Earth Tea, LLC and related defendants for 

claims that their Earth Tea is clinically proven to treat, cure, and prevent COVID-19.76 These most recent 

cases followed three CCPA cases filed last year.77 

Even before the enactment of the CCPA, the FTC used Section 5 to challenge deceptive health 

claims,78 illegal practices relating to sales of PPE79 and sanitizing products,80 and false claims targeting 

72 FTC, SERVING COMMUNITIES OF COLOR: A STAFF REPORT ON THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION’S EFFORTS TO 

ADDRESS FRAUD AND CONSUMER ISSUES AFFECTING COMMUNITIES OF COLOR (2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/serving-communities-color-staff-report-federal-tradecommissions-efforts-address-fraud-consumer/ftc-communities-color-report_oct_2021-508-v2.pdf. 73 FTC, PROTECTING OLDER CONSUMERS 2020 – 2021: A REPORT OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/protecting-older-consumers-2020-2021-report-federal-tradecommission/protecting-older-consumers-report-508.pdf. 74 Pub. L. No. 116-260, 134 Stat. 1182, Division FF, Title XIV § 1401 (2020). 75 Complaint, FTC v. Rando, No 3:22-cv-0487-TJC-MCR (May 3, 2022), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/01%20-%20Complaint.pdf. 76 Complaint, United States v. B4B Earth Tea LLC, No. 22-CV-1159 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 3, 2022), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/us_v._b4b_earth_tea_complaint_22cv1159.pdf. 77 See Complaint, United States v. Xlear, Inc., No. 2:21-cv-00640 (D. Utah Oct. 28, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/filed_complaint_xlear_v_jones_v.1.pdf; Complaint, United States 

v. Nepute, No. 4:21-cv-00437 (E.D. Mo. Apr. 15, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/2023188eneputecomplaint_0.pdf; Complaint, FTC v. Frank 

Romero dba Trend Deploy, No. 5:21-cv-00343 (M.D. Fla. June 29, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/complaint_-_trend_deploy.pdf. 78 For example, the Commission alleged that a company deceptively advertised a $23,000 treatment plan as a 

scientifically-proven way to treat COVID-19, even after receiving a warning from the FTC, and recently settled with 

one defendant for over $100,000. Complaint, FTC v. Golden Sunrise Nutraceutical, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00540 (E.D. 

Cal. July 30, 2020), https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/202_3146_golden_sunrise_-_complaint.pdf; 

Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment as to Defendant Stephen Meis, FTC v. Golden 

Sunrise Nutraceutical, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00540 (E.D. Cal. June 11, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/052-

_gs_stipulated_order_for_permanent_injunction_and_monetary_judgment_as_to_defendant_stephen_meis.pdf. 79 See, e.g., Complaint, FTC v. SuperGoodDeals.com, Inc., No. 20-cv-3027 (E.D.N.Y. July 8, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/202_3135_supergooddeals_-_complaint.pdf; Complaint, FTC v. 

Am. Screening, LLC, No. 4:20-cv-1021 (E.D. Mo. Aug. 4, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/202_3158_american_screening_-_complaint.pdf; Complaint, 

FTC v. Zaappaaz LLC, No. 4:20-cv-02717 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 4, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/202_3136_zaappaaz_-_complaint.pdf. 80 See, e.g., Complaint, FTC v. QYK Brands LLC, No. 8:20-cv-01431 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 4, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/202_3147_qyk_brands_-_complaint.pdf. See also Complaint, 

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struggling small businesses that were seeking to submit applications for the Paycheck Protection 

Program.81 The Commission recently won victories in two of these cases. In FTC v. QYK Brands LLC, the 

court found that defendant companies and their principals violated the Mail Internet and Telephone Order 

Rule and Section 5 of the FTC Act by making false promises to quickly deliver PPE and unsubstantiated 

claims that their dietary supplement could prevent consumers from contracting the COVID 19 virus.82 

The Commission won another victory against American Screening, LLC, where the court found that the 

firm and its principals made false promises to deliver PPE.83 

E. Truthfulness in National Advertising 

Ensuring that advertising is truthful and not misleading has long been one of the FTC’s core 

missions, and this past year is no different. Last month, the Commission issued an administrative 

complaint against Intuit Inc., the maker of the TurboTax tax filing software, for allegedly deceiving 

consumers with bogus advertisements pitching “free” tax filing that was not free for most taxpayers.84 In 

April, the FTC used its Penalty Offense Authority to seek $5.5 million in civil penalties against Kohl’s, 

Inc.85 and Walmart, Inc.,86 alleging that the companies falsely marketed dozens of rayon textile products 

as bamboo and made deceptive environmental claims that the “bamboo” textiles were made using 

ecofriendly processes, when in reality, the processes use toxic chemicals and result in hazardous 

pollutants.87 

In March, the Commission required a retailer to pay $4.2 million to settle allegations that it 

blocked negative reviews of its products from being posted on its website.88 Fashion Nova marked the 

FTC’s first case involving a company’s failure to post negative customer reviews. We also issued letters 

FTC v. One or More Unknown Parties Deceiving Consumers Into Making Purchases Through: www.cleanyos.com 

et al., No. 5:20-cv-02494 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 4, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/complaint_w-a_filed.pdf. The Commission obtained a federal 

court order that, while litigation proceeds, prohibits the defendants from making deceptive claims, suspends their 

deceptive websites, and bars them from using their websites to collect money from consumers. Preliminary 

Injunction, FTC v. One or More Unknown Parties Deceiving Consumers Into Making Purchases Through: 

www.cleanyos.com et al., No. 5:20-cv-02494 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 19, 2020), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/ftc_v_unknown_preliminary_injunction_with_att_a.pdf. 81 Stipulated Final Order, FTC v. Ponte Investments, LLC, (D.R.I. 2020) (No. 1:20-cv-00177), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/x200042_ponte_inv_-_stipulated_final_order.pdf. 82 Order, FTC v. QYK Brands LLC, (C.D. Cal. 2022) (No. 8:20-cv-01431). 83 Order, FTC v. Am. Screening, LLC, (E.D. Mo. 2022) (No. 4:20-CV-1021). 84 Complaint, In re Intuit Inc., No. 9408 (F.T.C. Mar. 28, 2022), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/D09408IntuitP3Complaint.pdf. 85 Complaint, United States v. Kohl’s Inc. f/k/a Kohl’s Dep’t Stores, Inc., No. 22-964 (D.D.C. Apr. 8, 2022), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2023171KohlsComplaint.pdf. 86 Complaint, United States v. Walmart Inc. (D.D.C. 2022) (No. 22-965), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/2023173WalmartComplaint.pdf. 87 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Uses Penalty Offense Authority to Seek Largest-Ever Civil Penalty for 

Bogus Bamboo Marketing from Kohl’s and Walmart (Apr. 8, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/04/ftc-uses-penalty-offense-authority-seek-largest-ever-civil-penalty-bogus-bamboo-marketing-kohls. 

The district court entered the stipulated order against Walmart, resulting in a $3 million penalty, the largest penalty 

in any of our environmental cases to date. 

88 Decision and Order, In re Fashion Nova, LLC (F.T.C. 2022) (No. C-4759), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/1923138C4759FashionNovaOrder_0.pdf. 

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to ten review management service companies, placing them on notice that avoiding the collection or 

publication of negative reviews violates the FTC Act.89 

Finally, in another law enforcement action challenging online reviews, Vision Path, Inc., which 

offers direct-to-consumer Hubble contact lenses, agreed to pay penalties and redress totaling $3.5 million 

to resolve charges that it violated prescription requirements under the Contact Lens Rule and failed to 

disclose that many customer reviews were written by compensated reviewers and, in at least one instance, 

by a company executive—in violation of the FTC Act.90 

F. Repair Restrictions 

Repair restrictions—practices that have the effect of limiting consumers’ ability to repair products 

they own—have made consumer products more difficult to fix and maintain.91 Repairs today often require 

specialized tools, difficult-to-obtain parts, and access to proprietary diagnostic software.92 The effects of 

these restrictions have been exacerbated during the pandemic as consumers have relied more heavily on 

technology than ever before.93 And, the burden of repair restrictions may fall more heavily on 

communities of color and lower-income communities.94 

Accordingly, the Commission has been taking a careful look at the ways in which repair 

restrictions harm consumers and competition. In May 2021, the Commission submitted a report to 

Congress, entitled Nixing the Fix: An FTC Report to Congress on Repair Restrictions.95 In the report, the 

Commission found that, based on a review of the comments and research submitted, as well as materials 

presented during a July 2019 workshop, there was scant evidence to support manufacturers’ justifications 

for repair restrictions.96 

In July 2021, the Commission unanimously issued a policy statement aimed at manufacturers’ 

practices that make it difficult for consumers to repair their products or use independent repair providers 

to make the repairs for them.97 The policy statement makes clear that the Commission will prioritize 

89 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Fashion Nova will Pay $4.2 Million as part of Settlement of FTC Allegations 

it Blocked Negative Reviews of Products (Jan. 25, 2022), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2022/01/fashion-nova-will-pay-42-million-part-settlement-ftc-allegations-it-blocked-negative-reviews. In 

addition, in October 2021, the agency also sent Notices of Penalty Offenses to more than 700 advertisers and 

consumer product companies regarding fake reviews and other misleading endorsements. Press Release, Fed. Trade 

Comm’n, FTC Puts Hundreds of Businesses on Notice about Fake Reviews and Other Misleading Endorsements 

(Oct. 13, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/10/ftc-puts-hundreds-businesses-notice-aboutfake-reviews-other. 90 Complaint, United States v. Vision Path, Inc. (D.D.C. 2022) (No. 1:22-cv-00176), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/complaint_filed.pdf; Stipulated Final Order, United States v. 

Vision Path, Inc. (D.D.C. 2022) (No. 1:22-cv-00176), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/stipulated_order_filed.pdf. 91 See generally FTC, NIXING THE FIX: AN FTC REPORT TO CONGRESS ON REPAIR RESTRICTIONS (2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/nixing-fix-ftc-report-congress-repairrestrictions/nixing_the_fix_report_final_5521_630pm-508_002.pdf [hereinafter Nixing the Fix Report]. 92 Id. at 17-19. 93 Id. at 4. 94 Id. at 3-4. 95 NIXING THE FIX REPORT, supra note 91. 96 Id. at 6. 97 Policy Statement of the Federal Trade Commission on Repair Restrictions Imposed by Mfrs. and Sellers (Jul. 21, 

2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1592330/p194400repairrestrictionspolicystatement.p 

df. 

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investigations involving unlawful repair restrictions and devote more enforcement resources to combat 

such unlawful practices.98 In addition, I am encouraged by legislative efforts that seek to expand 

consumers’ ability to repair products on their own and ensure that independent repairers have a chance to 

compete. I am also pleased to see that certain firms have announced new initiatives that they assert will 

increase repair options. Time will tell if those initiatives hold true to promise, and the Commission stands 

ready to hold companies accountable for imposing unlawful repair restrictions on consumers. 

G. Unwanted Calls 

Unwanted calls are a significant source of consumer reports to the FTC. These calls repeatedly 

disturb consumers’ privacy and frequently market fraudulent goods and services that cause significant 

economic harm. In FY 2021, the FTC received more than 5 million complaints about unwanted calls, 

including 3.4 million reports about robocalls.99 The Commission uses every tool at its disposal to combat 

these calls: aggressive law enforcement, initiatives to spur technological solutions, and robust consumer 

and business outreach. 

The FTC has filed 154 enforcement actions against 520 companies and 418 individuals alleged to 

be responsible for placing billions of unwanted telemarketing calls to consumers. We have also collected 

over $293 million in civil penalties and equitable monetary relief from these violators. In cases where 

perpetrators ran telemarketing scams, the FTC has obtained court orders shutting down these businesses 

and freezing their remaining assets so that those funds could be returned to consumers. Most recently, in 

August 2021 and January 2022, the FTC obtained orders from the Central District of California requiring 

two Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to turn over information that the agency is 

seeking as part of ongoing investigations into potentially illegal robocalls.100 In a third action, the FTC 

recently stopped a VoIP provider from facilitating illegal telemarketing robocalls, including scams 

relating to the pandemic.101 

H. Consumer Education and Outreach 

The Commission augments its law enforcement actions with education campaigns and resources 

to help consumers avoid the latest scams and inform businesses about where the FTC draws the line. 

Increasingly, these efforts include a focus on fighting frauds and scams exploiting digital platforms and 

other tools to target historically underserved communities. 

The FTC has actively extended its outreach to historically underserved communities to learn 

about issues affecting these communities. Using this input from various communities, and leveraging 

Congressional funding from the American Rescue Plan, the FTC has placed multilingual anti-fraud 

messaging into targeted print and radio markets that serve Asian-American, Black, Latino, and Tribal 

communities. These campaigns emphasize topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including scams 

98 Id. 99 FTC, DO NOT CALL REGISTRY DATA BOOK 2021 (2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/national-do-not-call-registry-data-book-fiscal-year2021/dnc_data_book_2021.pdf (Complaint Figures for FY 2021). 100 Order to Show Cause, FTC v. Deltracon Inc., No. 8:21-mc-25 (C.D. Cal. 2021) 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/deltracon_ecf_07_-_order_to_show_cause_0.pdf; Order, FTC v. XCast 

Labs, Inc., (C.D. Cal. 2022) (No. 2:21-mc-1026), 

https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/xcastorderacceptingfindingandrecommendations.pdf. 101 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Takes Action to Stop Voice over Internet Provider from Facilitating 

Illegal Telemarketing Robocalls, Including Scams Relating to the Pandemic (Apr. 26, 2022), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/04/ftc-takes-action-stop-voice-over-internet-providerfacilitating-illegal-telemarketing-robocalls. 

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related to employment and business opportunities, health products and claims, and auto buying and 

financing. 

Working with partners is key to reaching diverse audiences at the grassroots level. For example, 

reaching older people is an ongoing effort, and AARP is a long-time partner in helping the agency 

achieve its goals. The FTC regularly participates in AARP tele-townhalls, including a recent event that 

highlighted how older adults can avoid gift card, romance, government impersonator, and sweepstakes 

scams, an event that attracted more than 32,000 participants from across the country. The FTC also 

recently shared print resources with 1,300 AmeriCorps Senior project directors nationwide, which they, in 

turn, shared at in-service trainings with 200,000 community level older adult volunteers with the Senior 

Companion, Foster Grandparent, and RSVP programs. 

The Commission also has long worked to reach non-native English speakers, especially through 

ethnic media. In addition, the FTC regularly engages with partners through libraries, schools and 

community colleges, credit unions, legal services, and local law enforcement—as well as through 

mainstream Spanish-language media – to better serve Spanish-speaking and other language speaking 

audiences. Meanwhile, to reach rural communities and others who lack reliable internet access, the FTC 

mailed post cards to nearly a quarter of a million people and delivered letters to community health 

professionals in 5,000 rural and urban clinics to help people avoid COVID-related fraud. 

IV. MARKET INQUIRIES, STUDIES, AND RESEARCH 

The FTC also has a mission to research and study markets to ensure we are keeping up with 

emerging market trends and business practices. The agency continues to harness this tool to examine 

economic conditions and deepen our understanding of key trends. 

For example, in December 2021 the Commission voted to initiate a study into supply chain 

disruptions.102 Specifically, the agency ordered nine large retailers, wholesalers, and consumer good 

suppliers to provide detailed information that will help the FTC shed light on the causes behind ongoing 

supply chain disruptions in the U.S. economy. In addition to better understanding the reasons behind the 

disruptions, the study will examine whether supply chain disruptions are leading to specific bottlenecks, 

shortages, anticompetitive practices, or contributing to rising consumer prices. 

The Commission also previously examined past unreported acquisitions to help deepen our 

understanding of large technology firms’ acquisition activity, including how these firms report their 

transactions to the federal antitrust agencies, and whether large tech companies are making potentially 

anticompetitive acquisitions of nascent or potential competitors that fall below HSR filing thresholds.103 

Launched in February 2020, the Commission issued Special Orders to five large tech firms (Alphabet, 

Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft), requiring them to provide information about prior 

acquisitions not previously reported to the antitrust agencies under the HSR Act.104 At an open 

Commission Meeting in September 2021, FTC staff presented a report of their findings that highlighted 

the systemic nature of the acquisition strategies of digital platforms. The report captures the extent to 

which these firms have devoted tremendous resources to acquiring start-ups, patent portfolios, and entire 

102 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Launches Inquiry into Supply Chain Disruptions (Nov. 29, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/11/ftc-launches-inquiry-supply-chain-disruptions. 103 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC to Examine Past Acquisitions by Large Technology Companies (Feb. 

11, 2020), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2020/02/ftc-examine-past-acquisitions-largetechnology-companies. 104 Id. 

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teams of technologists—and how they were able to do so largely outside of the purview of federal 

enforcers.105 

To further understand and shed light on social media practices, in December 2020, the 

Commission issued Special Orders to nine social media and video streaming companies, including 

Facebook (now Meta Platforms), YouTube, and ByteDance (parent company of TikTok). These Orders 

cover a broad range of social media practices, including how these companies collect and use personal 

information, their advertising and user engagement practices, and how their practices affect children and 

teens. 

Additional ongoing studies also include an inquiry into the effects of physician group and 

healthcare facility consolidation that occurred from 2015 to 2020.106 This type of merger retrospective can 

also inform our merger enforcement work going forward. 

I also recognize the importance of learning from market participants, so the agency has opened up 

new avenues to hear directly from people about, for example, unfair contract terms that they may 

encounter.107 This input continues to inform the agency’s work. 

V. CONCLUSION 

The FTC remains committed to using its resources to effectively police unfair methods of 

competition, prevent unfair or deceptive practices, and to vigorously enforce the laws Congress has tasked 

the agency with administering. The agency is also committed to anticipating and responding to changes in 

the marketplace and to adapting as needed to meet new challenges. Recent months have only continued to 

highlight how the Commission is positioned to tackle some of the most pressing problems confronting 

Americans, and additional resources from Congress would equip us to deliver on this mission. I look 

forward to continuing to work with the Subcommittee and Congress, and I am happy to answer your 

questions. 

105 Press Release, Fed. Trade Comm’n, FTC Staff Presents Report on Nearly a Decade of Unreported Acquisitions 

by the Biggest Technology Companies (Sept. 15, 2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/pressreleases/2021/09/ftc-staff-presents-report-nearly-decade-unreported-acquisitions-biggest-technology-companies. 106 Michael G. Vita, Fed. Trade Comm’n, Physician Group and Healthcare Facility Merger Study (Apr. 14, 2021), 

https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/competition-matters/2021/04/physician-group-healthcare-facility-merger-study. 107 Request for Public Comment Regarding Contract Terms That May Harm Fair Competition, FTC-2021-0036, 

https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FTC-2021-0036 (last visited May 17, 2022). See also Press Release, Fed. Trade 

Comm’n, FTC Opens Rulemaking Petition Process, Promoting Public Participation and Accountability (Sept. 15, 

2021), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/09/ftc-opens-rulemaking-petition-processpromoting-public-participation-accountability. 

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