WASHINGTON—NetChoice filed public comments today to the Federal Trade Commission in response to its request for comments on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Business and Government Impersonation Fraud.
We’re glad to see the FTC taking steps to protect Americans against fraud and scams on and offline. Especially as attempts to defraud consumers have become much more commonplace, it is good to see the FTC looking into this issue. But the proposed rule currently must be amended to protect American free speech rights.
“While we applaud the FTC for defending consumers against the increasing number of scams online and offline, the proposed rules must be clarified to avoid violations of free speech and punishing innocent actors unnecessarily,” said NetChoice Policy Counsel Jennifer Huddleston. “In particular, the agency must consider the impact the proposed rule could have on online platforms and their non-fraudulent users. With that in mind, NetChoice encourages the FTC to clarify what knowledge is required to ensure that such innocuous conduct and speech is not also penalized by the rule.”
“We’re happy to see the FTC taking these steps to focus more on consumer protection. We encourage the agency to do so while ensuring the constitutional rights of Americans are not overlooked,” said NetChoice President and CEO Steve DelBianco.
You can read the full comment here. Contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with inquiries.