New FTC Leadership Likely to Put Consumer Privacy in Crosshairs

A Democrat-led Federal Trade Commission is likely to increasingly focus on policing companies’ privacy practices even as it contends with the high-profile Facebook Inc. monopoly investigation, attorneys say.

While the agency—with its broad purview of antitrust and consumer protection—isn’t focused solely on privacy, it has continued to ramp up actions against companies whose data-sharing practices don’t match their stated policies.

“There were significant settlements related to data security issues under Trump, but we’re likely to see even more,” said Elizabeth McGinn, a privacy and cybersecurity partner at Buckley LLP in Washington.

President Joseph R. Biden named Rebecca Kelly Slaughter acting ...