While the government shutdown does not affect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, the Federal Trade Commission does not enjoy the same protection and will have to pause its probe into Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign's data analytics firm, and how the former allowed the latter to access users' information without their permission.
Although the FTC’s budget allowed it to continue working through midday Friday, the impending lapse in funding will require it to suspend virtually all of its investigations and litigation. That would include the Facebook probe, according to David Vladeck, a former director of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau.
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Beyond the number of days or weeks the FTC is officially closed for business, shutdowns carry “enormous cost to government” because investigators must spend up to a week ahead of time winding down their work and a week afterward coming back up to speed, Vladeck said.
During that time, FTC investigators cannot conduct the normal fact-finding or research into companies they would otherwise be doing. Nor can the investigators effectively engage in negotiations with companies over a settlement.
The federal investigation into Facebook has been ongoing since March, but now the District of Columbia has upped the ante.
Last week, the D.C. attorney general filed a lawsuit against Facebook over its Cambridge Analytica fiasco, marking the first time officials in the United States have taken major legal action against the company over its recent troubles. The announcement underscored the way state regulators are increasingly taking the initiative when it comes to overseeing Silicon Valley, leaving some experts asking whether the public can depend on the FTC as a reliable industry regulator.
“Had the FTC moved promptly to reach a settlement with significant fines, the agency wouldn’t find itself in this position,” said Hal Singer, an economist and senior fellow at George Washington University’s Institute of Public Policy.
The shutdown is about to force the FTC to suspend its Facebook investigation, former officials say (WaPo)