FTC Updates (February 9-13, 23-27, 2026)

With the agency still operating with three Commissioner vacancies, the FTC took a range of notable actions in mid-February, spanning consumer data protection, health claims enforcement, labor market competition, and digital platform accountability. The agency’s activity to wrap February pertained primarily to rulemaking, seeking public comment about competitor collaboration, and holding a workshop about consumer data and privacy. The Commission also issued a policy statement about enforcement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. These stories and more after the jump.

February 9, 2026

Consumer Protection | Bureau of Consumer Protection Privacy and Security | Consumer Privacy

• The FTC sent a letter to 13 data brokers, putting them on notice of their obligations under the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 (PADFAA). The law bars data brokers from transferring or making accessible sensitive personal information about Americans to foreign adversaries or to companies under their control. The categories of protected data are wide-ranging, covering health, financial, biometric, geolocation, genetic, and behavioral information, as well as login credentials and key government-issued identifiers.
• The FTC flagged that several of the recipients appeared to be marketing data products tied to individuals’ military status, which falls within PADFAA’s scope. The agency directed the companies to audit their practices for compliance, warning that violations could expose them to civil penalties reaching more than $53,000 per violation. Retailers and consumer-facing businesses that work with data brokers for marketing or analytics purposes should assess whether any of their data-sharing arrangements could implicate PADFAA particularly where sensitive consumer information might find its way to foreign adversary-connected entities.

February 11, 2026

Bureau of Consumer Protection | Over-the-Counter Drugs and Devices | Advertising and Marketing Health Claims

• The FTC is distributing refund payments to consumers who purchased deceptively marketed treatment plans from Golden Sunrise Nutraceutical, Inc., between 2017 and 2020, including products that falsely claimed to treat COVID-19, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease. The FTC sued the company and its officers in July of 2020 for deceptively advertising a $23,000 treatment plan for COVID-19. In June 2021, the FTC reached a settlement with Golden Sunrise’s medical director, which prohibited him from making unsupported health claims in the future and ordered him to pay $103,420 for consumer refunds. In a September 2025 summary decision, the company and its other charged officer were found liable by a federal court, which also barred them from making unsubstantiated health claims in the future. In January 2025, the FTC sent claim forms to consumers, and now the FTC is sending checks totaling more than $40,700 to 578 consumers. Consumers who have not yet filed a claim may still do so online through May 12, 2026.

February 12, 2026

Competition | Bureau of Competition Nonmerger Noncompete

• The FTC unanimously approved a final consent order against Adamas Amenity Services LLC, a building services contractor, requiring the company to stop using no-hire agreements. The FTC’s complaint alleged that Adamas had embedded restrictions harmful to workers’ economic mobility into its contracts with property owners and managers in New Jersey and New York City. The FTC took the position that these arrangements suppressed workers’ leverage in seeking better pay, benefits, and conditions. Under the final order, Adamas must immediately stop enforcing any existing no-hire restrictions and must notify both its clients and its workers that those provisions are no longer valid. The order also includes ongoing compliance requirements for the next ten years.

Competition | Commissioners

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, warning that Apple may be running afoul of its legal obligations in how it operates Apple News. The letter was prompted by reports suggesting that the platform has been skewing its content curation in favor of left-leaning sources while sidelining right-leaning ones — and that this practice, if true, could put Apple in violation of the FTC Act. The Chairman’s letter laid out three ways that ideologically driven content curation could cross the line under the FTC Act: if it contradicts the platform’s own terms of service, if it amounts to a material omission by failing to disclose political favoritism to consumers who rely on the service, or if it causes consumers real harm that they cannot reasonably avoid and that is not offset by any competitive benefit.

Monday, February 23, 2026

Bureau of Competition: Collaboration Guidelines

• The FTC and the DOJ’s Antitrust Division jointly announced that they are seeking public input about potential guidance on collaborations among competitors. The agencies are particularly interested in input on (1) topics that would benefit from additional guidance, (2) new technologies and business models that need guidance, and (3) significant legal, economic, or technological developments that warrant consideration. The input would inform potential updates to the 2000 Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors. The FTC and DOJ withdrew these guidelines in December 2024 because they were outdated, citing interim developments in technology and analytical methods as well as many significant Supreme Court and federal cases. Comments may be submitted at this Regulations.gov site by April 24, 2026.

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Bureau of Consumer Protection: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

• The Commission issued a policy statement that, as long as certain conditions are met, it will not bring a COPPA enforcement action against website operators who collect, use, and disclose personal information solely for purposes of determining a user’s age via verification technologies. Such operators must not disclose information for any other purpose, must ensure that disclosure is limited in duration and scope and is safeguarded, and must take reasonable steps to ensure that the method used for age verification is likely to provide reasonably accurate results. The FTC concludes the statement by noting that the agency plans to initiate a review of the COPPA Rule to address age-verification mechanisms, and this statement will remain effective until the Commission finals any rule amendments to that end.

Bureau of Consumer Protection: Consumer Data and Privacy

• The FTC held a Workshop on Consumer Injuries and Benefits in the Data-Driven Economy on February 26, 2026. The purpose of the workshop was to “explore efforts to measure consumers’ privacy preferences, as well as the impacts of data breaches on consumers.” The full-day in-person program included the following panel discussions:
• • Quantifying Injuries and Benefits to Consumers
  • Data Breaches, Impacts on Consumers, and Efforts to Minimize Injuries
  • The Costs and Benefits of Behavioral & Contextual Advertising
  • Measuring Consumer Preferences, Beliefs, and Decisions

Various Commission staff, including FTC Commissioner Andrew N. Ferguson, also provided remarks. The workshop may be viewed in its entirety on YouTube.