On Friday, Axios reported that staffers from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency were seen at the Federal Trade Commission—the agency that exists to protect American consumers and honest businesses from predatory corporations, from giant tech monopolies to spam callers. In early February, DOGE staffers were similarly spotted at the Confumer Financial Protection Bureau. Days later, President Donald Trump effectively shuttered the agency. Last month, Trump also illegally attempted to fire the Democratic commissioners at the FTC. Despite this, the FTC still has a significant workload to handle, including a blockbuster antitrust trial against Meta later this month that Mark Zuckerberg is lobbying Trump to avoid. Demand Progress Education Fund has long been a champion of the FTC’s work to protect Americans from financial predators and scammers.
The following is a statement from Demand Progress Education Fund Corporate Power Director Emily Peterson-Cassin:
“Elon Musk’s DOGE is yet again raiding a federal watchdog tasked with protecting working Americans from Wall Street and Big Tech. The FTC has worked to stop monopolistic mergers that would have led to higher grocery prices and is now gearing up to go to court against Meta’s social media monopoly. It’s no surprise that at this moment while the economy is in freefall and fraud is on the rise, DOGE is choosing to raid the federal watchdog that protects everyday Americans and threatens corporate monopolies and grifters.
The only winners here are Trump’s billionaire besties like Mark Zuckerberg and especially Musk, who now stands to gain access to confidential financial information about every company ever investigated by the FTC, including the auto manufacturers, aerospace firms, internet providers, tech companies and banks that directly compete with his own companies. Corporations get let off the hook, Musk gets insider information and the American people get hosed.
Demand Progress Education Fund sincerely thanks the dedicated civil servants at the FTC who are now being subjected to the uncertainty and cruelty of DOGE.”
This article was originally published on Common Dreams and republished here, with permission, under a Creative Commons license. See our third-party content disclaimer.
