Data-Driven Online Ads Enter Spotlight as FTC Moves Toward Rules

Industry and consumer representatives will weigh in at an event Thursday on potential new Federal Trade Commission rules governing the data collection that drives personalized advertisements online.

The agency’s public forum is part of its recently launched effort to regulate what it’s dubbed “commercial surveillance” by businesses such as Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. that gather information about people’s use of apps and websites, often for the purpose of targeting ads. The rules also would set standards for how data must be secured.

The event is one of many steps in a lengthy rulemaking process that’s already stirring political ...