On Monday, the White House announced the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to serve as FTC Commissioner. Mr. Bedoya is slated to fill the seat on the Commission currently held by Rohit Chopra, which Mr. Chopra will vacate upon his confirmation as CFPB Director. Mr. Chopra is expected to be confirmed as CFPB Director before the end of the year.
If confirmed, Mr. Bedoya would join the two other Democratic FTC Commissioners, Lina Khan, Chair of the Commission, and Rebecca Slaughter, and allow Democrats to maintain a 3-2 majority.
Mr. Bedoya is currently a law professor at Georgetown University Law School, where his research has focused on how technologies such as facial recognition have led to discrimination against immigrants and people of color. He was the founding director of Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology. Mr. Bedoya also served as the first Chief Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology & the Law. As a result, some observers view Mr. Bedoya’s nomination as a precursor to greater FTC focus on potential discrimination arising from the use of artificial intelligence and other technological innovations as well as privacy considerations for both consumer protection and competition among Big Tech companies.