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Terrell McSweeny

Terrell McSweeny, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has held senior appointments in the White House, Department of Justice (DOJ), and the U.S. Senate. At the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division, she played key roles on significant antitrust and consumer protection enforcement matters. She brings to bear deep experience with regulations governing mergers and non-criminal, anti-competitive conduct, as well as issues relating to cybersecurity and privacy facing high-tech, financial, health care, pharmaceutical, automotive, media, and other industries. Terrell is internationally recognized for her work at the intersection of law and policy with cutting edge technologies including Artificial intelligence (“AI”), Digital Health, Fintech, and the Internet of Things (“IoT”). Clients benefit considerably from her extensive relationships with other enforcement agencies around the world.

Prior to joining the Commission, Terrell served as Chief Counsel for Competition Policy and Intergovernmental Relations for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division. She joined the Antitrust Division after serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President from January 2009 until February 2012, advising President Obama and Vice President Biden on policy in a variety of areas.

Terrell’s government service also includes her work as Senator Joe Biden’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Policy Director in the U.S. Senate, where she managed domestic and economic policy development and legislative initiatives, and as Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she worked on issues such as criminal justice, innovation, women's rights, domestic violence, judicial nominations, immigration, and civil rights.

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On September 16, the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in NetChoice L.L.C. v. Paxton, upholding Texas HB 20, a law that limits the ability of large social media platforms to moderate content and imposes various disclosure and appeal requirements on them.  The Fifth Circuit vacated the district court’s preliminary injunction, which previously blocked the Texas Attorney General from enforcing the law.  NetChoice is likely to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit’s decision.

HB 20 prohibits “social media platforms” with “more than 50 million active users” from “censor[ing] a user, a user’s expression, or a user’s ability to receive the expression of another person” based on the “viewpoint” of the user or another person, or the user’s location.  HB 20 also includes various transparency requirements for covered entities, for example, requiring them to publish information about their algorithms for displaying content, to publish an “acceptable use policy” with information about their content restrictions, and to provide users an explanation for each decision to remove their content, as well as a right to appeal the decision.Continue Reading Fifth Circuit Upholds Texas Law Restricting Online “Censorship”

On Friday, April 22, 2022, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is part of the Department of Commerce, issued a request for comment (RFC) on the state of competition in the mobile app marketplace.  According to the RFC, the record developed will be used to inform the Biden Administration’s competition agenda, including a report on competition in the mobile app ecosystem.  Comments are due on May 23, 2022.
Continue Reading NTIA Seeks Comment on Competition in the Mobile App Marketplace

The FTC has recently provided new guidance on the use of AI and algorithms, including a blog post that focuses on the benefits and risks of AI.  Former FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny, AI Initiative Co-Chair Lee Tiedrich, and Jadzia Pierce discuss the post, along with other AI-focused guidance from the FTC, in The

Continue Reading FTC Provides Guidance on Use of AI and Algorithms

On April 8, 2020, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released a blog post about the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and algorithms in automated decisionmaking. The blog highlighted the potentially great benefits and risks presented by increasingly sophisticated technologies, particularly in the “Health AI” space. However, it also emphasized that automated decisionmaking is not a new phenomenon—and the FTC already has a long history of assessing and addressing its challenges. Based on prior FTC enforcement actions, studies, reports, and other sources of guidance, the post outlined five general principles for using AI and algorithms while adequately managing consumer protection risks:
Continue Reading AI Update: FTC Provides Guidance on Use of AI and Algorithms