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President Donald Trump's efforts to remake the US government continued today with the firing of the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. This agency has historically had five members: three from the same party as the president and two from the opposing party. The New York Times reported that the president terminated the roles for FTC Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Both Slaughter and Bedoya said today that firing them is illegal. Commissioners' terms can only be ended early for good cause, such as "inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office." Also, no more than three commissioners can come from the same political party, meaning the pair also cannot be replaced by additional Republicans. It seems likely that Trump will face a legal challenge over the attempt to eliminate these positions. "The law protects the independence of the Commission because the law serves the American people, not corporate power," Slaughter said in a statement. "The reason that the FTC can be so effective for the American people is because of its independence and because its commissioners serve across political parties and ideologies. Removing opposition voices may not change what the Trump majority can do, but it does change whether they will have accountability when they do it." Bedoya also posted about the action on X, seconding Slaughter's statement that removing their posts is illegal. "Tomorrow I will testify before the Colorado Joint House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and will have more to say then," he wrote. Trump signed an executive order in February attempting to exert more control over several agencies that were formed to intentionally remain outside the White House's purview. The order targeted agencies such as the FTC, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FTC recently deleted all the posts on its business blog from President Biden's administration, leaving a four-year gap with no published compliance advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/president-trump-has-fired-the-ftcs-two-democrat-commissioners-225952614.html?src=rss
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The Federal Trade Commission has removed all posts from President Joe Biden's term in office from its business blog. This online publication has historically provided advice about how companies could best comply with consumer-protection regulations, covering topics such as artificial intelligence and how big tech companies have collected and used customer data. Currently, it has no content published between December 21, 2020 and March 7, 2025. Wired highlighted some of the notable content from the more than 300 blog posts that have been deleted. Several current and former FTC officials spoke to the publication about the change anonymously out of fear of retaliation. In terms of the message to industry on what our compliance expectations were, which is in some ways the most important part of enforcement action, they are trying to just erase those from history, one source said. The FTC is being led by President Donald Trump's nominee, Andrew Ferguson. At the time of his appointment, Ferguson said he would use the department to "end Big Tech's vendetta against competition and free speech." He and other Republicans have claimed that many platforms are censoring right-wing content, adding a heavy layer of irony to the FTC's latest actions. "They are talking a big game on censorship," another source told Wired. "But at the end of the day, the thing that really hits these companies' bottom line is what data they can collect, how they can use that data, whether they can train their AI models on that data, and if this administration is planning to take the foot off the gas there while stepping up its work on censorship."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-ftc-has-removed-all-business-blog-posts-from-the-biden-administration-214734633.html?src=rss
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Starting Tuesday, Disney+ has a 24/7 streaming channel for The Simpsons that broadcasts seasons one through 35 (all but the currently airing one) chronologically. To be clear, this announcement isn't about any new content, as you can already watch each of those 767 episodes on-demand on Disney+. All that's different here is a single stream that runs through each of them in order around the clock. If episodes average 22 minutes long, that would have the stream taking nearly 12 days to refresh. The advantage for those who like this format (I can only guess) is you don't have to think about where to pick up; just turn on the stream and imagine you're popping in on The Cartoon Network's longest marathon ever. "The Simpsons Stream will deliver a Simpsons marathon all day, every day no matter when you tune in, this ultimate Simpsons binge will be there," current show-runner Matt Selman wrote in a press release. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-adds-a-247-stream-of-the-simpsons-203929882.html?src=rss
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