A coalition of advocacy organizations is urging the Senate to quickly approve FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya.

 

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In order to rein in big tech's 'abusive tactics,' the organizations claim, the FTC has to be fully staffed.

Over 40 public interest and advocacy organizations have written to Senators asking them to confirm Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission "swiftly" (FTC).

To be an FTC commissioner, Bedoya was appointed by President Joe Biden in September. She is the creator and director of Georgetown University Law Center's Center on Privacy & Technology, which she founded and directs.

As soon as Biden announced his pick of Bedoya, advocacy organizations praised his record on civil rights and surveillance.

To the Senate Commerce Committee's chairman, Maria Cantwell (D-Wash. ), 37 organizations wrote urging them to approve Bedoya "swiftly" and noting that he has "shown a special knowledge of how these corporations affect communities of color and other disadvantaged groups."

With just four commissioners on a five-member body, the FTC, like the FCC, is presently in a stalemate. Biden, on the other hand, has proposed Bedoya to be the fifth commissioner, in contrast to the FCC. After Rohit Chopra, a former commissioner, was approved as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the FTC was left in a 2-2 stalemate.

"Regulators need to swiftly crack down on big tech's abusive conduct," the letter reads, citing evidence from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. A "prolonged stalemate" that "only stands to create additional hurdles for the agency as it tries to hold major internet companies responsible" may be avoided if Bedoya is approved quickly by the Senate.

These abusive tactics can only be curbed by robust regulatory enforcement, and Mr. Bedoya's confirmation is critical at this point, the letter states.

Several organizations, including Demand Progress, Accountable Tech, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Fight for the Future, signed the letter.