Factbox-How Trump’s new FTC chair views AI, Big Tech

By Jody Godoy

(Reuters) – Andrew Ferguson, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to chair the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, has expressed the desire to go after Big Tech companies while taking a hands-off approach to regulating artificial intelligence.

Ferguson’s views on social media, data privacy, AI and the need to boost American competitiveness are likely to affect the regulator’s approach to companies including Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google.

Here are some of the views Ferguson has expressed in statements during his term as an FTC commissioner which began in April and ends in 2030.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The “pro-regulation side of the AI debate” is “the wrong one,” Ferguson said.

“A knee-jerk regulatory response will only squelch innovation, further entrench Big Tech incumbents, and ensure that AI innovators move to jurisdictions friendlier to them — but perhaps hostile to the United States,” he said in a September statement on the FTC’s report on social media.

The report called for comprehensive legislation to protect users’ data and prevent AI from perpetuating discrimination.

ONLINE PRIVACY

Ferguson has described the vast collection, aggregation and indefinite storage of data on social media and internet users in the U.S. as an “online privacy crisis” that regulators should focus on. However, he has warned against regulating how such information is used to target advertising. 

“If regulators and lawmakers attempt to ban or seriously curtail targeted advertising, they will be undoing the balance of the online economy,” he said.

CONTENT MODERATION POLICIES

Ferguson has criticized social media platforms for instituting “Orwellian policies banning nebulous categories of content like ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘hate speech.'”

The FTC could take action against social media platforms if their terms of service misled users about content moderation policies. With more transparent policies, users could decide if they want to stay on the platforms, Ferguson said in December.

“But the choice would be real only if there are suitable free-speech-respecting substitutes to the censorious platforms,” Ferguson said, praising Elon Musk’s “unusually firm commitment to free and open debate” after the billionaire took over social media platform X.

PLATFORM COLLABORATION ON CONTENT

Ferguson has expressed concern that social media platforms may have coordinated in banning Trump in 2021, taking down posts they deemed harmful during the COVID-19 pandemic, and restricting dissemination of stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop computer.

“If the platforms colluded amongst each other to set shared censorship policies, such an agreement would be tantamount to an agreement not to compete on contract terms or product quality,” which would violate antitrust laws, Ferguson said.

ADVERTISER COORDINATION

Coordination between advertisers to pull money from platforms such as X over content concerns could violate antitrust laws, Ferguson said.

The World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which was formed to help advertisers avoid their ads being placed next to harmful content on social media, shut down after X sued,  accusing it of facilitating group boycotts.

Ferguson has said the FTC could investigate similar efforts.

KIDS AND TEENS ONLINE

Congress should pass a law that would require online service providers to give parents more control over children’s online privacy, Ferguson said.

“Congress should empower parents to impose whatever level of supervision and control over internet messaging they feel is right for their family and their children,” he said.