- The president of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wrote a letter to 13 American technological giants, asking them to resist foreign demands to weaken encryption or censorship content
- The president of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, specifically mentions the EU digital service law, the United Kingdom online security law and the United Kingdom’s research powers act as problematic
- The promise occurs days after the United
The Federal Commerce Commission (FTC) is asking US technological giants to resist foreign demands to weaken the safety of its users by breaking the encryption protections or imposing censorship on their platforms.
On Thursday, August 21, 2025, the president of the FTC, Andrew Ferguson, wrote a letter to 13 technological companies, including Apple, Alphabet (parent firm behind Google), Meta, Microsoft and Amazon.
Ferguson specifically mentions the EU Digital Service Law, the United Kingdom online Security Law and the United Kingdom’s research powers act as attempts to “censor content or degrade security for users.” These actions, he warns, could also violate Section 5 of the Law of the Federal Trade Commission that prohibits unfair or deceitful acts, while eroding freedoms and online security of the Americans.
“Foreign governments that seek to limit free expression or weaken the security of data in the United States could have the fact that companies have an incentive to simplify their operations and legal compliance measures through the application of uniform policies between jurisdictions,” Ferguson wrote.
This promise occurs only days after US officials managed to obtain a victory and caused the United Kingdom The 2016 Research Powers Law.
Greater impulse for control
The United Kingdom and the EU have pressed for greater control over the Internet in the name of security in recent years, developing legislation that often requires that US technology providers adjust their services.
There are two main containment areas: encryption and harmful, but legal content.
Encryption refers to the technology used by safety software such as the best VPN applications, secure email and messaging applications encrypted to maintain private online communications between you and the receiver.
While that is a crucial protection, especially because the main cyber attacks such as Salt Typhoon become the norm, the authorities see this as an obstacle to criminal investigation and are pressing the creation of rear doors in encrypted software.
The tastes of Signal and WhatsApp have already expressed their concerns against laws and proposals such as the United Kingdom online security law and EU chat control.
American technology firms and officials have also been raising concerns about the new requirements of the United Kingdom and the EU to mitigate online hazards by stopping the propagation of erroneous information and the content that could damage minors.
These friction led the Trump administration to consider imposing sanctions on the EU to censor Americans and impose higher costs to US technology companies. Under their digital service law, PakGazette reported on Monday, August 26.
