On September 26, 1914, the Federal Trade Commission was established when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission Act. This agency was created to enforce anti-trust legislation in response to the growth of large companies that controlled entire sectors of the economy. The agency regulates mergers of companies to ensure that one corporation does not become a monopoly. The FTC also operates as a general consumer protection agency. They are a repository for identity theft complaints and aggregate bulk identity theft data to direct federal mitigation efforts. Currently the FTC brings hundreds of cases against individuals and companies for violating consumer protection statutes and competition laws. The agency brings civil cases against its targets and also assists US Attorneys and other prosecutors when a case can be taken criminal. One of the FTC’s most significant cases was against Facebook. In 2019, Facebook agreed to pay $5 billion and restructure their company as a punishment for engaging in deceptive privacy control actions and sharing information about their customers without the customers consent.
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