Insights

Growing focus on antitrust enforcement at the federal level in recent years has been accompanied by a similar trend at the state level. Notably, multiple states have enacted or are considering enacting various legislative or regulatory changes that would create new regulatory requirements for businesses and make antitrust suits significantly easier for state attorneys general and private plaintiffs. These include new pre-transaction notice requirements, as well as the expansion of existing state antitrust statutes to cover more types of conduct while shifting the burden and expense of litigation from plaintiffs to defendants. In several cases, states have expressed a clear intent to increase enforcement related to the private equity and healthcare industries specifically.

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently approved a final consent order against Sitejabber, an artificial intelligence-enabled consumer review platform, for deceiving consumers by misrepresenting that the ratings and reviews it published came from customers who actually experienced the reviewed product or service. In reality, the reviews were collected before reviewers received the products or services, artificially inflating average star ratings and review counts. 

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”)  recently announced that it approved final amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”), broadening the rule’s coverage to inbound calls for technical support (“Tech Support”) services. For example, if a Tech Support company presents a pop-up alert (such as one that claims consumers’ computers or other devices are infected with malware or other problems) or uses a direct mail solicitation to induce consumers to call about Tech Support services, that conduct would violate the amended TSR.