Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson has made two significant management decisions that will impact the trajectory of his enforcement agenda. On February 10, 2025, Chairman Ferguson appointed directors for both the Bureau of Consumer Protection (BCP) and the Bureau of Competition (BC). Christopher Mufarrige was appointed as the Director of BCP and Daniel Guarnera as the Director of BC. Both were unanimously confirmed by the FTC Commissioners.

Directors play an important role in the agency’s work, overseeing enforcement actions and making recommendations that ultimately make their way for an FTC vote to either bring a complaint, settle, or close an investigation. Typically, they are companies’ last opportunity to convince the staff not to sue or to accept a settlement on preferred terms.

Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige

Prior to this new role, Director Mufarrige was the Chief of Staff and Attorney Advisor to Commissioner Melissa Holyoak. Director Mufarrige previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He also worked as an attorney in-house at a technology company and before that, at Wilson Sonsini as an associate.

Given his previous work experience addressing consumer financial harms, Director Mufarrige is likely to make fraud a key priority for BCP. This priority aligns with the traditional core focus of the FTC. Upon his appointment, Chairman Ferguson stated that protecting Americans from fraudsters is something that he is dedicated to pursuing. Likewise, Commissioner Holyoak has said that addressing fraud is a “central focus of [the FTC’s] consumer protection mission,” further noting that the topic would be one of her key priorities at the FTC.

In addition to fraud, we can expect Director Mufarrige to focus on protecting children. While the state of the FTC’s amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) is still in flux, the agency has signaled consistent interest and concern around protecting children online. In particular, a bipartisan FTC has been concerned about parents having sufficient notice and control over how their children engage online.

While these areas of focus are generally in-line with traditional FTC priorities, based on statements from Chairman Ferguson and Commissioner Holyoak, we can expect Director Mufarrige to pivot away from novel and aggressive AI enforcement and theories of harm based on algorithmic discrimination pursued by the Biden administration. We can also expect Director Mufarrige to develop consumer protection theories and remedies in tandem with antitrust theories (see below) to address censorship by big tech companies. For more insight, see our prior client alert on “Shaping Consumer Protection: What to Expect from Incoming Chairman Ferguson’s FTC.”

Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera

Director Guarnera comes to the FTC with a background as an antitrust litigator who has focused on technology, agriculture, labor, and healthcare. Prior to his appointment, Director Guarnera was the chief of the Civil Conduct Task Force in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division. He has previously worked as a trial attorney and counsel to the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division and served as special counsel to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley. He also has experience in private practice.

Chairman Ferguson noted in his statement on Director Guarnera’s appointment that “[f]ew lawyers in America have as much experience taking on Big Tech as [Guarnera]” and that Guarnera “has experience using the antitrust laws to promote competition in labor and healthcare markets—two of [Chairman Ferguson’s] top priorities.” Director Guarnera’s experience at the DOJ Antitrust Division, particularly with the lawsuits against major technology companies, may well prepare him to advance Chairman Ferguson’s goal of ending “Big Tech’s vendetta against competition and free speech.”

This goal is shared by Republican Commissioner Holyoak who recently remarked on the role of the FTC in protecting Americans “from wrongful censorship by large technology companies.” Coupled with Chairman Ferguson’s position that “[n]ebulous terms like ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation,’ really mean any speech which goes against the elite consensus in DC and Silicon Valley,” we can expect the FTC to focus its resources on investigating whether any deceptive or anticompetitive conduct resulted in de-platforming certain viewpoints. Gail Slater, nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the DOJ, also commented on the increase of de-platforming in her confirmation hearing, signaling that de-platforming may also be an area of focus for the DOJ should Slater be confirmed. For a more in-depth analysis of the way antitrust law can apply in the ESG context, read our recent client alert here.

In line with the FTC’s latest expansion of the merger review guidelines and revised HSR form, Director Guarnera will be tasked with enforcement decisions on merger transactions. Chairman Ferguson has embraced the new Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) reporting requirements stating that the updates “will allow us to find anticompetitive mergers efficiently, while more quickly getting out of the way of deals that will benefit the American people.” The FTC also has stated that it will return to the prior practice of issuing Early Termination of transactions, before the end of the 30-day HSR waiting period. This more merger-friendly approach was also on display at Slater’s confirmation hearing. She explicitly stated that merger remedies done correctly could “remove any competitive harm from a merger,” alluding to the potential for more deals being approved with consent decrees in the Trump Administration. More information on the new reporting requirements and thresholds for reporting transactions, which will go into effect on February 21, 2025, can be found here.

Other Enforcement Priorities

In addition to a focus on big tech and censorship, the FTC will likely move away from some of the rulemaking proceedings launched during the Biden Administration instead focusing on taking enforcement actions within the FTC’s authority. As an area of continuity, we expect the FTC to maintain its focus on life sciences transactions and healthcare (along with big tech) given Chairman Ferguson’s statement that prices for prescription drugs and healthcare “are out of control.”

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati routinely helps companies navigate a complicated compliance landscape and respond to related regulatory investigations. For more information, please contact Jamillia Ferris, Maneesha Mithal, Maureen Ohlhausen, Taylor Owings, Rebecca Weitzel Garcia, Malikah Williams, or another member of the firm’s data, privacy, and cybersecurity or antitrust and competition practices.