Honestly, if you’ve been following the headlines lately, you probably think the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just spent the last few weeks of October 2025 shuffling papers and waiting for the year to end. You’d be wrong. Dead wrong. While everyone was distracted by the typical end-of-year corporate fatigue, the FTC was quietly—and in some cases, very loudly—rewriting the rules of engagement for data privacy.
The biggest thing to hit the fan in FTC privacy enforcement news October 2025 wasn't actually a new law. It was the realization that the "old" ways of protecting data are no longer enough to keep the regulators off your doorstep. We aren’t just talking about hackers anymore. We’re talking about how companies basically lie to their users about what they do with their data, even when they think they’re being transparent.
The Shutdown That Didn't Stop the Heat
First off, we have to talk about the elephant in the room: the government shutdown. On October 1, 2025, the FTC had to pull the National Do Not Call Registry offline. It was a mess. Business owners were scrambling, thinking they had a "get out of jail free" card because they couldn't access the latest lists.
But here’s the kicker: the law didn't stop existing just because a website went dark. The FTC made it crystal clear that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) were still very much in play. If you called a number that was already on that list before the lights went out, you were still liable. It was a trap for the unwary, and a few telemarketing firms found that out the hard way when the agency started filing notices the moment the desks were staffed again.
Children’s Privacy: The $10 Million Disney Reminder
If you think the FTC is getting soft on Big Tech, look at the Disney settlement that finally got the judge's stamp of approval this month. Disney had to cough up $10 million because they allegedly played fast and loose with how they labeled videos on YouTube.
Instead of marking individual videos as "Made for Kids," they were reportedly doing it at the channel level. Why does that matter? Because it messed with the protections required under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). When you don’t label things correctly, you end up collecting data on kids that you have zero right to touch.
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Why the Sendit Case Changes Everything
While Disney took the big headlines, the action against the Sendit app and its CEO, Hunter Rice, is actually more significant for the average developer. This wasn't just about data; it was about "dark patterns."
The FTC alleged that Sendit used "Diamond Memberships" that automatically renewed without clear disclosure. They used tiny fonts and colors that basically matched the background—classic shady tactics. But the really wild part? The FTC claimed the app sent fake provocative messages to users to trick them into paying for a subscription to see who sent them. It’s a mix of privacy violations and straight-up deception that shows the FTC is looking at the psychology of apps, not just the code.
The "AI Companion" Witch Hunt (Or Is It?)
In September, the FTC started an inquiry into AI chatbots acting as "companions," and by October, the ripples were hitting the tech world hard. They sent orders to the big players—Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, Snap, and X.AI.
The agency is obsessed with "emotional and psychological risks." They want to know how these bots are tested, especially when they’re talking to kids. If your chatbot is simulating friendship or intimacy, the FTC is basically asking: "What happens when the bot tells a kid something dangerous?" It’s a massive shift from just worrying about credit card numbers to worrying about mental health data and emotional manipulation.
What’s Happening Under the Hood: Data Security Failures
Let’s talk about Illuminate Education. This is a case that came to a head in late 2025, and it’s a horror story for anyone in the EdTech space. A hacker used the credentials of an employee who had left the company three and a half years prior.
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Think about that.
The hacker got into a cloud database and walked away with the personal info of over 10 million students. Emails, birthdays, and even health-related records were sitting there in plain text until at least 2022. The FTC didn't just fine them; they’re forcing them to implement a massive information security program and, more importantly, a public data retention schedule. The days of "hoard it forever" are over.
The State-Federal Tug of War
There is a weird tension happening right now. President Trump signed an executive order aiming for a "National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence." It’s supposed to rein in the states and keep a "light-touch" federal approach.
But here’s the reality: states like California and Texas aren't backing down. While the FTC is doing its thing, California’s Attorney General was busy in October settling with Sling TV and Dish Media for nearly half a million dollars because they made it too hard for people to opt out of data sharing.
"Privacy promises must match reality. If your website offers an opt-out, it better actually work." — General consensus from recent state-led enforcement sweeps.
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Actionable Insights for Your Business
If you’re running a business in this environment, you can’t just "set it and forget it" with your privacy policy. Here is what you actually need to do to stay out of the FTC's crosshairs:
- Audit Your "Opt-Out" Buttons: It’s not enough to have a "Decline All" button. You need to verify that your Google, Meta, and TikTok pixels actually stop firing when a user clicks it. The recent class-action noise around Nvidia proves that people are watching the network traffic.
- The Three-Year Rule: Check your HR records. If an employee leaves, their access to your cloud databases needs to die the same day. Not three years later.
- Kill the Dark Patterns: If your subscription cancellation process looks like a maze, fix it. The FTC is using the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) like a sledgehammer right now.
- Age Verification is Coming: Start looking at technical ways to differentiate minors from adults that don't involve just asking for a birthday. The FTC is holding workshops on this because they know the "self-attestation" model is broken.
- Encryption is Non-Negotiable: If you are storing sensitive data (health, student records, geolocation) in plain text in 2026, you are asking for a massive fine.
The landscape is messy. You've got federal regulators looking at AI ethics, states looking at opt-out signals, and class-action lawyers looking at your website’s source code. The best defense isn't a long legal disclaimer; it's actually doing what you say you're doing in your privacy policy.
To stay compliant, you should begin mapping every single data flow in your organization. Identify where "sale" or "sharing" happens under state laws, especially for cross-site advertising. This isn't just a legal task; it's a technical one that requires your IT and marketing teams to actually talk to each other. Don't wait for a warning letter to find out your cookie manager is broken.