The Federal Trade Commission warned major technology companies — including Akamai, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Discord, GoDaddy, Meta, Microsoft, Signal, Snap, Slack, and X — that complying with foreign governments' censorship requests or implementing backdoors that weaken encryption could violate U.S. law. The warning noted that foreign laws and demands may lead companies to censor Americans or weaken data security, undermining anonymous and private speech. The move reflects a U.S. stance against measures that would give governments access to private communications amid international tensions over online content regulation.
"President Trump has put a swift end to the weaponization of the federal government against Americans and their freedoms, but foreign governments present emerging and ongoing threats to the free exchange of ideas," the letter reads [PDF]. "Companies might be censoring Americans in response to the laws, demands, or expected demands of foreign powers. And the anti-encryption policies of foreign governments might be causing companies to weaken data security measures and other technological means for Americans to vindicate their right to anonymous and private speech."
The head of America's consumer watchdog has issued a stark warning to some of the biggest names in the tech sphere - don't backdoor encryption or censor content at the behest of foreign governments, or there may be consequences. On Thursday, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson published the letter, sent to Akamai, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Discord, GoDaddy, Meta, Microsoft, Signal, Snap, Slack, and X, warning that complying with foreign governments' censorship demands or weakening encryption could violate US law.
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