Concerned about Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulation, enforcement, or policy priorities? You currently have a once-in-four-years opportunity to weigh in on the agency’s direction. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires every government agency to have a strategic plan that lays out the steps the agency intends to take to meet its mission, and the FTC recently released its 2026-2030 draft strategic plan for public comment. If there’s an issue you think the agency should be focusing on, or maybe one you’d like to see go by the wayside, now is your chance to let the FTC know.

When it comes to consumer protection, the draft plan is not particularly surprising. It generally reiterates key administration priorities we’ve heard the Trump–Vance FTC highlight time and time again. These include:

• Protecting children online. Specifically, the draft plan pledges to focus on children’s privacy in three ways. First, the agency will continue focusing tools and resources on enforcing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) against website operators that collect, use, or disclose personal data of users under age 13 without parental consent. Second, the agency commits to working to “hold Big Tech accountable for unlawful conduct that results in harm to kids,” echoing the messaging of the recent Attention Economy workshop. Finally, the FTC reiterates it will explore its new authority under the TAKE IT DOWN Act for “other ways the FTC can protect children and support families.”
• Telemarketing. The draft promises to continue focusing on something with near-universal appeal: cracking down on unlawful telemarketing. It commits the FTC to maintaining the National Do Not Call Registry and collecting complaints about potential violators in support of law enforcement actions by the FTC and its partners. The FTC has brought some big cases relating to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and it sounds like agency watchers should expect more.
• Other miscellaneous priorities. The plan mentions a grab-bag of other concerns, like combatting opioid recovery and other health fraud and preventing unfair and deceptive conduct in the ticket sales industry. Both of these are high-priority areas for the administration, including, in the case of online ticket sales, a focus area for the FTC prescribed by executive order. 

Even though the FTC has been tasked with a key role in government-wide deregulation, the agency’s stated priorities mostly tie to rule enforcement, likely because the FTC can more easily seek monetary relief for rule violations than it can for violations of the FTC Act. Indeed, one of the main metrics the FTC proposes for measuring its success is the amount of money it collects in conjunction with its orders. This would seem to incentivize more aggressive enforcement action in lieu of business counseling, even though the draft strategic plan also discusses stepping up business education and outreach.

Maybe you’re seeing other problems in the marketplace that you think the FTC should address. Or maybe you think the agency’s got it exactly right. Either way, if you have thoughts or concerns, now is the time to make them known. The agency is accepting public comments through October 17, 2025.