| The Federal Trade Commission unveiled settlements with two major data brokers on Tuesday that will prohibit them from selling users’ sensitive location data — an enforcement action that could mark Lina Khan’s last big move on data privacy as chair of the agency. The FTC said data brokers Mobilewalla and Gravy Analytics agreed to cease the practices to settle claims they collected or sold people’s private personal information, such as data about visits to medical facilities or places of worship, without adequately obtaining their consent. Those are the latest such concessions secured by the FTC under Khan, a Democrat, who is expected to be replaced next year by someone President-elect Donald Trump chooses. Khan said in a statement Tuesday that tracking by brokers “can put millions of Americans at risk, exposing the precise locations where service members are stationed or which medical treatments someone is seeking.” The FTC’s consumer protection bureau has made targeting the data broker industry — made up of dozens of little-known companies that quietly scoop up and trade vast reams of users’ personal data — a major focus since Khan took over as chair in 2021. In 2022, the agency sued geolocation data broker Kochava, alleging that it sold data that could be used to track users’ visits to abortion clinics and other sensitive places. The lawsuit was initially dismissed but litigation over an amended FTC complaint is ongoing. In January, the agency struck settlements with two other brokers, X-Mode and InMarket, that are similar to the latest agreements and will prohibit them from selling sensitive location data. Bureau Director Sam Levine said the cases together represent “a huge step forward for consumer privacy” and a “paradigm shift” for how the FTC enforces data protection. “This really is about making sure that certain categories of sensitive data and uses thereof are off limits,” Levine, who took on the role after Khan was named chair in 2021, told the Tech Brief. The FTC had alleged that Mobilewalla collected data from women who visited pregnancy centers and people who attended racial justice protests to help target users online, and that Gravy Analytics used a practice known as geofencing to sell lists of users who participated in events related to certain medical conditions or religious activities. Spokespeople for Mobilewalla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There was no immediate response to an email requesting comment from Unacast, which merged with Gravy Analytics in 2023. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill called on the agency to investigate some of the practices as early as 2020 after reports emerged that data brokers used sensitive information to analyze the demographics of Black Lives Matter protesters. Lawmakers have also spoken out against reports that federal agencies have obtained consumers’ personal information from brokers. While the data broker industry is sprawling, Levine said the agency is confident that the recent settlements and lawsuits have served as a warning to other potential bad actors. “Our hope and the intelligence we’ve gathered is that bringing these cases has sent a really strong signal to other industry players as well,” said Levine, who fired a warning shot against data brokers at a major privacy summit last year. It’s unclear to what extent data brokers will remain a primary target under Trump’s FTC, though there are signs of bipartisan support for the work. The president-elect has not yet announced who he will name to succeed Khan, and several of the FTC’s biggest enforcement actions against data brokers have either faced Republican opposition or were launched when Democrats held complete control of the agency. One of the two Republicans serving on the commission at the time, Trump appointee Noah Phillips, opposed the Kochava lawsuit in 2022. The X-Mode and InMarket settlements, meanwhile, were approved only by Democrats as they were taken up before the FTC’s two current Republicans, Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson, were confirmed in March. But Holyoak and Ferguson, two potential contenders to succeed Khan once Trump takes office, voted in favor of the FTC’s amended complaint against Kochava this year. “When private parties like the Defendants disclose precise geolocation information revealing political, medical, or religious activities, without consumers’ consent to willing purchasers, their conduct breaches that trust and jeopardizes Americans’ freedoms,” Holyoak said at the time. Both voted in favor of the settlement announced on Tuesday with Gravy Analytics, while Holyoak was the sole dissenter on the commission in the Mobilewalla agreement. Levine said he expects the focus on data brokers will endure at the agency. “This really doesn’t strike me as a Republican or Democratic issue,” he said. | 
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