What the FTC Wants, the FTC (Mostly) Gets

In recent weeks the Federal Trade Commission has been on a tear. As one example, on July 22 it announced a $700 million settlement with Equifax for “the 2017 data breach that jeopardized the personal data of a staggering 147 million people.” But it is a decision earlier this year that is perhaps more ominous, at least regarding personal liability for directors and officers (“D&Os”).

On February 27, 2019, after announcing a $5.7 million settlement with TikTok for various privacy violations relating to its lip-syncing app, two of the five FTC commissioners, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Rohit Chopra, issued this joint statement:

When any company appears to have made a business decision to violate or disregard the law, the Commission should identify and investigate those individuals who made or ratified that decision and evaluate whether to charge them. As we continue to pursue violations of law, we should prioritize uncovering the role of corporate officers and directors and hold accountable everyone who broke the law.

This approach appears to have some traction with the current FTC Chairman, Joe Simons, and the Bureau of Consumer Protection Director, Andrew Smith, who both discussed Slaughter and Chopra’s statement at the 2019 International Association of Privacy Professionals Global Privacy Summit. Smith described naming D&Os as a “way to make companies take notice that [the FTC] is serious about compliance.”
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