Former FTC Chair Khan Pitches Unfairness Authority as Teen Protector
The FTC’s unfairness authority can continue to be a useful enforcement tool in holding social media companies liable for harming teens, former FTC Chair Lina Khan wrote in a Stanford Law Review article with former Consumer Protection Bureau Director Samuel Levine and former Chief Technologist Stephanie Nguyen.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Privacy Daily provides accurate coverage of newsworthy developments in data protection legislation, regulation, litigation, and enforcement for privacy professionals responsible for ensuring effective organizational data privacy compliance.
The authors noted the FTC’s rules under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act only cover harms to children younger than 13. They cited the FTC’s use of unfairness authority in its $5 million settlement with NGL last July as a novel approach to protecting teens. The commission claimed the messaging app unfairly marketed its services to children and teens. The commission voted 5-0 with support from then-Commissioner Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Melissa Holyoak.
“The bipartisan support for this application of unfairness, moreover, suggests this forward-leaning work will continue regardless of who leads the FTC,” Khan, Levine and Nguyen wrote.