Ex-FTC Commissioner Urges Caution on Privacy Remedies in Antitrust Cases
Courts should be careful about using privacy-related remedies in antitrust cases because enforcement goals differ in the two policy areas, former FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen said Wednesday during the Future of Privacy Forum’s DC Privacy Forum 2025.
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The FTC in May backed DOJ’s proposed privacy remedies in its antitrust lawsuit against Google (see 2505120027). Courts shouldn't presume that forcing a company to share consumer data on antitrust grounds is good for competition, said Ohlhausen, now an antitrust attorney at Wilson Sonsini.
Such remedies also run the risk of downplaying consumer interests in keeping data with the original company, she added. Consumers didn’t choose to share their data with entities beyond the original company that collected it, Ohlhausen said.