IP Law Daily, TECHNOLOGY/INTERNET NEWS: FTC seeks consumer input on tech platform censorship, (Feb 21, 2025)

By Lynn Stanton, TR Daily

The Agency is seeking to “understand how technology platforms deny or degrade users’ access to services based on the content of their speech or affiliations.”

The Federal Trade Commission has invited the public to comment on “technology platform censorship,” including the circumstances under which platforms have “denied or degraded (‘shadow banned,’ ‘demonetized,’ etc.) users’ access to services based on the content of the users’ speech or affiliations.” In a request for information (RFI) released February 20, the agency said that FTC staff is “interested in understanding how consumers have been harmed—including by potentially unfair or deceptive acts or practices, or potentially unfair methods of competition—by technology platforms that limit users’ ability to share their ideas or affiliations freely and openly,” Federal Trade Commission, Request for Information, Dkt. FTC-2025-0023 (Feb. 20, 2025).

The FTC noted that tech firms can employ confusing or unpredictable internal procedures that cut users off, sometimes with no ability appeal the decision. Such actions taken by tech platforms may harm consumers and affect competition. “Tech firms should not be bullying their users,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson. “This inquiry will help the FTC better understand how these firms may have violated the law by silencing and intimidating Americans for speaking their minds.”

The RFI asked consumers to provide details on specific adverse actions taken by platforms, whether such actions were in response to users’ speech or actions on the platform, the platform’s notification process, and whether “countervailing benefits to consumers or competition justif[ied] the platform’s decisions to deny or degrade its users’ access to services.”

It also asked about whether the platforms had policies in place informing the public of how they would “regulate, censor, or moderate users’ conduct on and off the platform” and whether they adhered to those policies.

It asked about platforms’ representations regarding appeals or challenge processes.

It asked about how the platforms’ actions affected users, including content creators and about factors motivating platforms, such as pressure from advertisers or from government.

“Were platforms’ adverse actions made possible by a lack of competition? Did the practices and policies affect competition?” the RFI asked.

Comments can be submitted at regulations.gov and are due by 11:59 p.m. on May 21.

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