WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a series of major enforcement actions and policy moves spanning the education, housing, technology, legal, aviation, healthcare, and consumer protection sectors, the Federal Trade Commission last week signaled one of its most aggressive crackdowns in recent years — targeting corporate data lapses, deceptive pricing, privacy abuses, and anticompetitive mergers across the economy.
The agency’s broad push began Monday, when the FTC announced that education technology provider Illuminate Education will be required to overhaul its data security practices and eliminate unnecessary data after a massive breach exposed the personal information of more than 10 million students. Regulators allege the company stored sensitive medical and academic records in plain text, ignored years of warnings about vulnerabilities, and failed to notify hundreds of thousands of affected families for nearly two years.
“Illuminate pledged to secure and protect personal information about children and failed to do so,” said Christopher Mufarrige, head of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau. The proposed order requires Illuminate to adopt strict security controls, implement a transparent data retention schedule, delete unneeded information, and notify federal authorities of future breaches.
Later Monday, the FTC delivered its annual report to Congress on protecting older adults, revealing a sharp rise in high-dollar fraud losses. Older Americans reported losing $2.4 billion to scams in 2024 — four times the losses recorded in 2020 — with investment and romance schemes inflicting the heaviest financial damage. The agency highlighted escalating fraud activity on social media and an alarming rise in tech-support scams targeting seniors. Officials said the findings underscore the need for continued enforcement and expanded public education efforts, including the FTC’s Pass It On campaign and work with veteran, military family, academic, and nonprofit partners.
On Tuesday, the FTC announced payments totaling nearly $15.3 million for more than 100,000 consumers misled by antivirus company Avast. Regulators said Avast collected and sold detailed browsing data while marketing its software as a privacy tool. Under a 2024 settlement, the company is banned from monetizing users’ browsing information and must provide direct redress via checks, PayPal, or Zelle.
That same day, the agency secured one of the largest housing-related settlements in its history when Greystar — the nation’s largest manager of multifamily rental properties — agreed to pay $24 million following allegations it deceptively advertised artificially low rents while tacking on hidden mandatory fees. The proposed order requires Greystar to clearly disclose total monthly leasing costs and fee structures in all future advertisements. “At a time when Americans are struggling to find affordable housing, the FTC is focused on ensuring consumers receive transparent pricing,” Mufarrige said.
Also Tuesday, FTC policy officials endorsed a proposed reform in Texas that would strip the American Bar Association of its long-standing power to determine which law schools count toward bar eligibility. Staff argued that ABA accreditation requirements suppress competition and keep legal education unnecessarily expensive while limiting pathways into the profession. The FTC letter urged other states to consider similar reforms.
By Wednesday, federal regulators turned their attention to one of the year’s largest industrial mergers. The FTC said Boeing must divest substantial Spirit AeroSystems assets — including major aerostructure production lines that supply Airbus — to resolve concerns linked to Boeing’s $8.3 billion acquisition of the supplier. Regulators said without divestitures, Boeing could raise costs or degrade access to critical components for rival aircraft manufacturers. The proposed order also requires long-term protections for military aircraft contractors and imposes transitional service obligations to ensure manufacturing continuity. FTC officials coordinated with European, U.K., and U.S. defense authorities throughout the review.
In another Wednesday action, the FTC finalized an order against telemedicine startup NextMed, which officials accused of using fake testimonials, hiding recurring fees, manipulating customer reviews, and charging consumers without consent amid soaring demand for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. NextMed and two principals must pay $150,000, substantiate all future health claims, cease deceptive advertising, and provide simple, timely cancellation and refund processes.
Enforcement momentum carried into Thursday, when Aya Healthcare abandoned its planned acquisition of rival Cross Country Healthcare following an FTC investigation that uncovered serious competition concerns in the market for staffing software used to manage traveling nurses. “Further consolidation in this important market risked reducing the options available for many thousands of healthcare workers,” said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera, who vowed continued scrutiny of labor and healthcare markets.
Collectively, the actions highlight sweeping enforcement priorities under the Trump-Vance administration’s FTC, which has increasingly emphasized data privacy, consumer transparency, competitive access, and market fairness.
Several of the proposed orders will undergo public comment periods before becoming final.
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