US FTC announces open meeting for next Thursday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has begun holding open meetings this year, will hold its next session next Thursday to discuss online privacy practices.

At the meeting, the four commissioners will hear a staff presentation on the privacy practices of six internet service providers and three advertising affiliates.

A fifth commissioner, Democrat Alvaro Bedoya, has been nominated but not confirmed.

The companies were not named. That said, in 2019, the FTC sought information from U.S. internet broadband providers and related entities about how they collect, preserve and use information about their customers.

The information was sought from companies such as AT&T’s advertising subsidiary Appnexus Inc; Verizon advertising subsidiaries Verizon Online LLC and Oath Americas Inc; as well as Charter Communications Inc, the second largest U.S. cable provider.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Chris Reese)