FTC Staff: No of Challenging Program for Online Behavioral Advertising as Anticompetitive

The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition has issued an advisory opinion letter stating that it has no present intention to challenge the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ (CBBB) proposed “accountability program,” which would hold companies engaged in online behavioral advertising accountable for compliance with the “Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising.”

These principles were released in July 2009 by a coalition of industry associations, and are administered by the Digital Advertising Alliance. According to the staff letter, the CBBB’s proposed accountability program has the potential to benefit consumers by increasing transparency of, and consumer control over, certain aspects of online behavioral advertising, and there appears to be little or no potential for competitive harm associated with the proposed program. Although companies will conform their online behavioral advertising practices to a specific standard under the CBBB program, that conformity likely will enhance consumer autonomy without limiting choice of competitively offered goods and services that consumers may desire, the letter states.