WASHINGTON—NetChoice filed comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), offering recommendations to strengthen its commitment to its core statutory mission and enhance its credibility in its Proposed Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2026-2030. We commend the Commission for undertaking this process and ensuring protecting consumers and respecting lawful commerce are at the center of antitrust in America.
“NetChoice applauds the FTC for recognizing in its Strategic Plan that consumer protection and respect for lawful commerce are complementary. The agency should strengthen this plan by explicitly recommitting to the consumer welfare standard as the guiding principle for enforcement,” said Amy Bos, NetChoice Vice President of Government Affairs. “Without this objective framework, the FTC risks returning to the Biden years when enforcement was detached from focusing on consumers, deterring beneficial investment and innovation in America. The Commission should recenter itself on its core mission rather than pursuing progressive policy objectives and targeting companies based on subjective standards.”
NetChoice offers key suggestions on how the draft plan could additionally be strengthened with commitments to key principles, including:
- Recommitting explicitly to the consumer welfare standard: This principled, objective framework ensures enforcement actions target genuine harm to consumers, such as higher prices, reduced quality, diminished choice or stifled innovation, rather than a business’ success or size. Clear guidance tied to consumer harm is essential for businesses making decisions about product development, pricing and growth strategies, encouraging their focus to be on innovating for Americans.
- Fully considering the pro-competitive benefits of mergers and acquisitions: Mergers and acquisitions are essential engines of American innovation, enabling startups to scale breakthrough technologies and providing exit opportunities that incentivize more entrepreneurship. Overly aggressive merger enforcement deters beneficial transactions, harms small businesses by eliminating acquisition opportunities and ultimately hurts consumers by preventing the scaling, efficiencies and innovations mergers often generate.
- Returning to its core statutory mission: In recent years, while significant resources were devoted to novel antitrust theories often rejected by federal courts, consumer fraud losses reached record levels. Americans lost billions to scammers while Biden’s FTC prioritized headline-generating efforts over the bread-and-butter consumer protection work that directly addresses fraud. We urge the FTC to commit to prioritizing stopping fraud and deception, and concentrating its resources on enforcing the laws Congress has enacted, rather than pursuing policy objectives beyond the agency’s expertise or authorization.
Read NetChoice’s full comment on the FTC’s Proposed Strategic Plan FY 2026-2030 here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.