Antitrust

Last June, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its revised Endorsement Guides, the handbook for business practices that may be unfair or deceptive in violation of the FTC Act. The Endorsement Guides had been last revised in 2009 and the recent revisions sought to align practices with the ways advertisers reach consumers to promote products and services, including on social media.

Since the beginning of Chair Khan’s tenure at the Federal Trade Commission (and in line with President Biden’s aim to curb rising health care costs), the current FTC has committed to bring enforcement actions against health care consolidation and rising prices. Over the past two years the FTC has employed novel competition tools to achieve this purpose, as demonstrated by the Commission’s suit last week against a private equity firm and its related specialty practice—alleging violations of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, Section 7 of the Clayton Act and Section 5 of the FTC Act.