Trump administration scrubs 300+ FTC blogs on AI and privacy enforcement

The Trump administration has abruptly eliminated four years of critical FTC business guidance, including key consumer protection information on AI and privacy enforcement. This unprecedented removal of over 300 blog posts from the Biden era raises serious legal concerns while potentially benefiting tech companies that donated to Trump’s inauguration and now advise his administration.

The big picture: The Federal Trade Commission has scrubbed its website of all business guidance blogs published during President Biden’s administration, removing crucial consumer protection information and enforcement precedents.

• Current and former FTC employees, speaking anonymously to WIRED, confirmed that more than 300 blogs were deleted from the agency’s website as of Tuesday.
• The purged content included award-winning guidance on artificial intelligence regulation and documentation of landmark privacy settlements with major tech firms like Amazon and Microsoft.

Key details: The deleted blogs contained specific guidance for tech companies on complying with consumer protection laws and avoiding deceptive practices.

• One removed post titled “Hey, Alexa! What are you doing with my data?” detailed FTC complaints against Amazon and Ring security cameras for allegedly misusing sensitive consumer data.
• Another deleted blog explained Microsoft’s $20 million settlement for illegally collecting children’s data through Xbox systems without parental consent.
• An award-winning 2023 post on “The Luring Test: AI and the engineering of consumer trust” provided guidance on creating chatbots that wouldn’t violate FTC rules against deceptive products.

Why this matters: The removals erase critical regulatory guidance during a time of significant industry transformation, particularly regarding AI development and data privacy practices.

• “In terms of the message to industry on what our compliance expectations were, which is in some ways the most important part of enforcement action, they are trying to just erase those from history,” one source told WIRED.

Legal implications: The blog removals may violate federal laws regarding government records and transparency.

• A former FTC official told WIRED the deletions raise “serious compliance concerns under the Federal Records Act and the Open Government Data Act.”
• During previous administration transitions, the FTC would place “warning” labels on outdated guidance rather than removing it completely, fearing deletion would violate the law.

Industry connections: The Trump administration has received substantial support from the same tech companies that were subject to the FTC’s enforcement actions.

• Tech giants including Amazon and Meta, as well as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, donated to Trump’s inauguration fund.
• Tech industry figures Elon Musk and David Sacks are officially advising the administration.

What they’re saying: Sources claim tech companies are the only beneficiaries of removing these regulatory documents.

• “They are talking a big game on censorship. But at the end of the day, the thing that really hits these companies bottom line is what data they can collect, how they can use that data, whether they can train their AI models on that data,” a source alleged to WIRED.