President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Trade Commission into law in 1914, after the 1911 Standard Oil case showed courts alone moved too slowly against monopolies. The agency enforces civil antitrust law and consumer protection through five commissioners serving seven-year terms, with no more than three from one party. Section 5 of the FTC Act lets it declare unfair methods of competition and deceptive acts unlawful. Its consumer work runs from the 1984 Funeral Rule, which requires written price lists, to a consent decree over Sears software that collected users’ online activity, a $50.1 million judgment against OMICS Publishing Group, and a click-to-cancel rule that a federal appeals court vacated in July 2025.

On competition, the FTC has challenged hospital mergers including Phoebe Putney and Palmyra Medical Center, sued Meta over Instagram and WhatsApp, blocked Nvidia’s purchase of Arm, and won an injunction against the $24.6 billion Kroger and Albertsons merger. It is suing the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, which handle about 80% of U.S. prescriptions, over rebates tied to insulin prices. A Texas federal court struck down its ban on noncompete clauses. In 2025 President Trump removed commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, and in June 2026 the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Slaughter that commissioners can be fired at the president’s discretion, overturning the Humphrey’s Executor precedent.

• OMICS ran predatory journals, advertised conferences with speakers who never agreed to attend, and refused to let researchers withdraw papers.
• The three PBMs named are OptumRx, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark.
• In the Google search case, a judge first ordered a Chrome sale, then instead required data sharing and an end to exclusivity deals.
• The FTC backed a copyright exemption letting independent shops repair McDonald’s ice cream machines.
• After the ruling, the FTC warned PayPal, Visa and Mastercard against denying service over political or religious activity.