Abortion rights groups were among those expressing support last week for a Federal Trade Commission proposal to regulate data-driven “surveillance marketing.” Among the digital tactics they’re urging the agency to tamp down on is the use of health information by pharma and medical marketers.
The Federal Trade Commission gave notice in August that it was exploring rules to regulate what it considers harmful commercial surveillance and lax data security. At that time, the agency also put out a call for comment, which expired last Tuesday.
The proposed rulemaking “may be one of the most important outcomes possible for the next two years during the Biden administration,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, whose group was one of about 120, out of 11,000 submitted according to the online docket, that opined on health or healthcare marketing.
“This is the first FTC in decades that’s poised to enact serious rules to regulate how data-driven advertising operates in the United States,” Chester said, “Especially in ways where sensitive information affects people.”
Indeed, Biden appointee and FTC chair Lina Khan, who’s made no secret of her ambitions to rein in Big Tech, has also shown she’s not afraid of using litigation to keep marketing in check. Additionally, the agency is suing ad-tech firm Kochava over its practice of collecting and selling health services location data.
As to why CDD filed a comment, Chester said that the FTC is looking for examples of how data-driven marketing affects consumers, as well as its human costs.
“Pushing people to adopt prescriptions and other kinds of remedies or choose particular places for surgery, infiltration of electronic health records to influence prescribers — all these things are happening on a daily basis,” he said.
A ‘stunning array of contexts’
The FTC defines commercial surveillance as the business of…
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