FTC Chair Targeted by Big Tech-backed Recusal Effort
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** CfA's October 27, 2023 Newsletter
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With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
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CfA Opposes Cynical, Big Tech-backed Change to FTC Recusal Process
In February 2022, Bloomberg reported ([link removed]) that the tech industry had a found a new ally in the US Chamber of Commerce. Once, companies had rallied behind the Internet Association, which refused to take a stance on the pressing issue of antitrust policy and suffered from declining membership before ending operations in late 2021. The Chamber, on the other hand, was willing to step into the fray. In September, it submitted a petition ([link removed]) to tighten recusal standards at the Federal Trade Commission, specifically designed to force FTC Chair Lina Khan to recuse herself from cases involving tech giants like Meta and Amazon. Khan doesn’t have any financial conflicts of interest in these investigations, but the tech industry claims
that her previously stated views on acquisitions make it impossible for her to be impartial. At the same time, the industry has waged a massive campaign to paint Khan as biased; CfA’s Tech Transparency Project recently published a report ([link removed]) which found that Amazon was channeling money to a right-wing nonprofit what worked to smear Khan and her colleagues. In light of these circumstances, CfA has submitted a comment ([link removed]) urging the FTC to reject the proposed rule and protect the independence of its Commissioners from undue corporate pressure.
More Taxpayer Dollars go to Anti-Abortion Clinics in North Carolina
This week, the Charlotte News Observer reported ([link removed]) that North Carolina’s newly-passed budget contains nearly $26 million for religious organizations, most of which are crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). Abortion is already banned after 12 weeks in North Carolina, which the Guttmacher Institute describes ([link removed]) as having “very restrictive” reproductive healthcare policies; patients are forced to make multiple trips to receive care, and clinics are subject to burdensome regulations ([link removed]) that require them to seek unnecessary surgical licenses. CPCs, on the other hand, are poorly-regulated; the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists describes
([link removed]) them as facilities that “undermine the tenets of informed consent” and “impede access to comprehensive, ethical care.”
One North Carolina organization that received state funding, known as the Human Coalition, has previously been accused of misleading women about their ultrasound results and of their eligibility for abortion services. In 2019, CfA urged ([link removed]) North Carolina officials to end funding to the Human Coalition, which appeared to be using taxpayer dollars to support its religious activities. Despite these serious allegations, lawmakers have now granted the organization an additional $3 million in taxpayer dollars.
TTP Report Cited in Vermont’s Meta Lawsuit
In December 2021, CfA's Tech Transparency Project (TTP) revealed ([link removed]) that Meta’s Instagram was promoting “thinstagram” accounts, which were amplified by the platform’s algorithms and encouraged test users to engage in disordered eating. These findings built on internal studies leaked ([link removed]) by whistleblower Frances Haugen, which seemed to prove that Meta’s executives were acutely aware of the danger that Instagram posed to teenage girls. This week, TTP’s research appeared in a lawsuit ([link removed]) brought against Meta by the state of Vermont, which cited the report as evidence of Instagram’s harmful content recommendation systems. Instead of just platforming user-generated content, Vermont
officials claim that Meta is building algorithms that maximize engagement by producing unpredictable dopamine awards – a feature that the state compares to a slot machine. Taken together, these platform design elements create a product that is addictive and toxic, especially for younger users. Vermont is now one of 41 states suing Meta not only for its impact on children’s mental health, but for its efforts to present its platforms as safe for young users.
What We're Reading
Schumer endorses guardrails for AI use in elections, considers candidate pledge ([link removed])
Abortion is still under threat by dark money groups that helped overturn Roe ([link removed])
US says some crypto firms not doing enough to stop illicit finance ([link removed])
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Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
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