The FTC Competition Bureau will begin recommending “enforcement action” Sept. 27 against companies that “fail to file” proposed transactions with the commission and DOJ “when retirement of debt is part of the consideration for the deal,” acting bureau Director Holly Vedova said in a Thursday blog post. Competition “is concerned” informal agency staff interpretations provided to companies about whether specific types of deals require going through the review process “may not reflect modern market realities or the policy position of the Commission,” Vedova said. “We are currently in the process of reviewing the voluminous log of informal interpretations to determine the best path forward,” but “previous informal interpretations” that “gave the impression that companies could avoid filing by paying off a target company’s debt, instead of paying the company with cash … missed the mark.” Some “merging parties have responded by structuring deals in ways that they believe fall outside of the filing requirements,” she said.

Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and top executives from Rakuten Mobile met with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the role the company’s technology can play in “accelerating the deployment of secure, next-generation wireless networks” across the U.S. “American wireless carriers can deploy a cloud-native network running on the Rakuten Communications Platform at lower cost, higher security, and more quickly than traditional wireless appliances,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-63.

DOJ and the Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security are among 10 agencies planning to expand facial recognition technology use through fiscal 2023, GAO reported Tuesday. Expansion plans include new face-scanning systems, pilot testing and upgrading existing systems, GAO said. DHS’ Customs and Border Protection is collaborating with the Transportation Security Administration on efforts to “automate the identity verification process at airports for travelers,” GAO said. It surveyed 24 agencies, 18 of which reported using face-scanning technology in fiscal 2020.

Frontier's alleged misrepresentation of its DSL speeds to customers is "textbook deception" and "violates federal and state consumer protection statutes," said the FTC (in Pacer, docket 21-cv-04155) and six states, asking the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Friday to deny Frontier's motion to dismiss its claim against the ISP (see 2107210062). "Thousands of consumers have complained that defendants were not providing the Internet speeds they have paid for," plaintiffs said. The officials said the court has standing to hear the claims because Frontier has "sufficient contacts within the United States to satisfy due process." Frontier didn't comment.

The Competitive Carriers Association and NTCA urged caution as the FCC considers how to tighten secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules, with an eye on moving up by a year the June 30, 2023, deadline for smaller providers to implement the technology (see 2105200072). Replies were posted Tuesday in docket 17-97. ‘’Be careful not to inadvertently penalize carriers acting in good faith and earnestly seeking robocall mitigation solutions for their consumers,” CCA said: “Additional time to implement STIR/SHAKEN is vital for small carriers. The Commission should adopt an approach that is most likely to address the most culpable parties without inadvertently sweeping in those providers operating in good faith.” The record supports targeting “bad actor” providers that “knowingly enable (or turn a blind eye towards) parties using voice service to generate illegal robocalls and ‘spoofing’ caller-ID information,” said NTCA: “The record also highlights the importance of avoiding overly-inclusive and burdensome proposals that would sweep in innocent voice providers.” USTelecom supports keeping the current deadline for facilities-based providers, but shortening it for others. “Should the Commission move forward with the proposal, it should allow such nonfacilities based providers to seek the full two-year extension based on the same challenges the Commission cited when it first adopted the small provider extension,” the group said. “There can be no justification for imposing an accelerated deadline on small voice providers that are not prone to originating large volumes of illegal robocalls and that are operating in good faith to meet the June 30, 2023 deadline,” said ACA Connects. The rules should be “narrowly tailored to capture the most likely sources of illegal robocalls,” NCTA said.

The Voice on the Net Coalition asked the FCC to grant the “widely-supported” petitions for reconsideration that it and CTIA filed seeking additional comments on the deadline for carriers to block calls originating from foreign service providers that aren’t in the robocall mitigation database. The potential number of uncompleted calls “should be more of a concern” than “speculative illegal robocalls” from foreign carriers, VON said in an ex parte letter posted Monday in docket 17-97. VON said it also supports AT&T’s request for a six-month extension for foreign providers to register with the database (see 2108040075).

ESPN faces a proposed $20,000 fine for emergency alert system tones in a documentary on the Alabama Crimson Tide-Auburn Tigers football rivalry that was shown in October, an FCC Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability said Friday. ESPN didn't comment.

The FTC’s collective policy shifts on Hart-Scott-Rodino filings “threaten to chill harmful and beneficial deals alike,” Commissioner Christine Wilson tweeted Thursday: “I am gravely concerned that the carefully crafted HSR framework is suffering death by a thousand cuts.” She cited Monday’s announcement about warning letters (see 2108030064), temporary suspension of early termination grants (see 2103120069) and repeal of a 1995 policy statement on prior notice and approval (see 2107210061).

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and three other congressional Democrats urged Amazon and Facebook Wednesday to end their bid for FTC Chair Lina Khan’s recusal from antitrust decisions involving the companies (see 2107160052). Khan “has no ... conflicts that would require recusal,” Warren and the other Democrats wrote Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “There is no basis for her recusal under the current federal ethics statute or FTC precedent. Your efforts to sideline Chair Khan appear to be nothing more than attempts to force an FTC stalemate that would allow you to evade accountability for any anti-competitive behavior.” Others signing are Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington. Both companies “have engaged in a coordinated attack to discredit Chair Khan on ethics grounds, even -- in the case of Amazon -- going so far as to request immunity from any future antitrust investigations,” the lawmakers said. “The real basis of your concerns appears to be that you fear Chair Khan’s expertise and interpretation of federal antitrust law.” Amazon and Facebook didn’t comment.

The FTC lacks authority and resources to properly enforce against consumer protection and competition violations, the commission tells the House Commerce Committee in testimony prepared for Wednesday’s House Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing (see 2107210061). In a joint statement, the commission highlighted its weakened authority to obtain monetary relief, resulting from the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC (see 2106210054). The commission is “facing extremely severe resource constraints,” commissioners wrote, citing a heavy surge in global “mergers and acquisitions.” The pandemic also is causing more complaints about marketplace abuse, the commission said. It cited bipartisan support for some of the legislative proposals the committee is considering at the hearing. It cites the agency’s call for Congress to repeal the telecom common carrier exemption, which it said impedes enforcement against activity like illegal telemarketing. The commission notes broad support for enforcement against nonprofits and for rulemaking and civil penalty authorities, “although some Commissioners would support such measures in more limited ways.” Senate Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Mike Lee, R-Utah, wrote Tuesday against several recent measures from FTC Chair Lina Khan. He raised concerns about the “diminished role” of minority commissioners and allowing public input only after commissioners voted on agenda items at recent public meetings. He criticized the FTC’s “refusal to grant early terminations of the waiting period for mergers that pose no threat to competition under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act.” Restoring FTC’s authority to “force lawbreakers to return money to scammed consumers and disgorge ill-gotten gains" should be a key priority, says ex-FTC official David Vladeck, now a Georgetown law professor, in prepared remarks. He seeks adequate funding, saying the FTC has “barely” two-thirds of the personnel it had in the early 1980s.