FTC warns big tech: don’t cave to EU and UK pressure on encryption and privacy

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned big tech companies to resist pressure “to censor and weaken data security protections for Americans” from foreign laws such as the EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Act.

FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson sent direct warnings to major US tech companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Meta, and Microsoft, urging them to resist foreign attempts to weaken data security or censor Americans.

The consumer protection watchdog also cautions firms that succumbing to foreign pressure could violate federal law.

“I am concerned that these actions by foreign powers to impose censorship and weaken end-

to-end encryption will erode Americans’ freedoms and subject them to myriad harms, such as surveillance by foreign governments and an increased risk of identity theft and fraud,” Ferguson said in the letter.

The FTC argues that the European Union’s Digital Services Act and the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act “incentivize tech companies to censor worldwide speech.”

Moreover, the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act can require companies to weaken their encryption measures to enable UK law enforcement to access user data.

“As companies consider how to comply with foreign laws and demands, they are still required to comply with the FTC Act’s prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices in the marketplace,” the watchdog said in a press release.

Ferguson stressed that promising strong encryption but secretly weakening it in response to foreign law would likely constitute a deceptive practice under the FTC Act.

“The FTC has brought dozens of cases over the past two decades against companies that have failed to keep their promises to consumers to deploy reasonable safeguards to protect consumer data,” the FTC warns.

Ferguson expressed concerns that companies might attempt to simplify compliance with foreign laws and other demands by censoring Americans and subjecting them to increased surveillance, even if the requests do not technically require it.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, announced on Monday that the UK had agreed to withdraw its mandate for iPhone maker Apple to provide a "backdoor" enabling access to the encrypted data of American citizens.