The Federal Trade Commission is considering creating new regulations that could restrict how businesses use the consumer data they collect. If implemented, these regulations could lead to a crackdown on commercial algorithms, which are part of the core business model of many tech companies.

Soliciting public input on whether to draft the new data privacy rules is the first step in the process of placing increased regulations on how businesses collect, share, and analyze consumer data.

According to Statista, 74 percent of United States internet users are “more alarmed than ever” about their online privacy–and with good reason.

“Technological advancements over the last few decades have delivered enormous benefits, but they’ve also delivered tools that now enable persistent tracking and routinized surveillance of individuals,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan,” during a recent press conference announcing the request for public input.


“We all know businesses that collect personal data on individuals at a massive scale and in a stunning array of contexts — on our location, our health, what we read online, who we meet, what we buy,” Khan added.


New regulations would also seek to curb ongoing data breaches, which have leaked millions of consumers’ data. In the first half of 2022 alone, there have been 816 data breaches reported in the United States. Regulations would also address how businesses handle digital health data, another area that is coming under scrutiny. They’d also tackle concerns that social media algorithms may be biased according to race and gender.

While there’s no indication of what these new regulations would look like, they’d likely include limits on targeted advertising and create new, more transparent rules on how consumer data can be collected and stored.

This new FTC initiative follows the advance of a bipartisan push in Congress to improve US privacy laws and create the country’s data privacy right, known as the American Data Privacy and Protection Act. Though it was approved by a House committee, its status in the Senate is currently unknown.