The latest public Federal Trade Commission (FTC) meeting focused on two issues – the recent announcement of revisions to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR or Rule) and a discussion of an agency report on supply chain issues in the grocery industry. Both are important topics. But the most important question for many of us – is there anything to report about the recently confirmed new commissioners, Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson. Sadly, they were not in attendance because they are still “going through the federal onboarding process,” according to Chair Lina Khan. We anticipate – and hope – that these meetings will be more interesting once they are in attendance.
Roughly three years ago, the FTC kicked off these public meetings. And at the outset, the meetings held at least some interest, with the agency discussing some topical issues before they were voted on – so there was an element of actually learning something new. The latest meetings have been quite different, with the agency mostly talking about things that were announced recently.
First up was the TSR. And I would be remiss if I didn’t provide you with a link to the great write-up that my partner Randy Shaheen published a few weeks ago summarizing the Rule changes and proposal. An FTC staffer provided a great summary as well. In short, the Rule was amended so that it now covers misrepresentations made in business-to-business calls and will generally impose additional record-keeping requirements for telemarketers. The FTC also made it clear that prerecorded messages created with AI are covered by the TSR. Finally, the agency repeated that it is considering further changes, namely whether the Rule – which mostly addresses outbound calls – should be amended to cover inbound calls that involve tech support services.
The commissioners did not shed much light on the TSR issues, except to indicate their support for protecting small businesses and that these changes show how FTC rulemaking can help make enforcement more efficient. Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, however, did mention a recent decision in a case the FTC brought against a Voice Over Internet Protocol provider that was dismissed because of the protections provided by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. (We will be taking a closer look at that one and writing about it soon.)
The second issue addressed a recent FTC report that discussed the causes behind the grocery supply chain disruptions that we saw during the pandemic. The report focused on competition issues that aren’t quite what we focus on here.
And as usual, the meeting kicked off with remarks from people raising a host of issues of concern, including grocery mergers, franchises, health care and non-competes. A few speakers raised concerns about the perceived politicization of the FTC as well as concerns about the FTC’s recent large budget request. One speaker raised some interesting issues about an FTC rulemaking that could impose liability on AI platforms when bad actors use their services. The speaker flagged that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act needs to be carefully considered in the context of this proposal. With that, we are looking forward to the next meeting with the full team on board – and will report about any sparks that may fly.
[View source.]
