Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will host a workshop titled “The Attention Economy: How Big Tech Firms Exploit Children and Hurt Families” on June 4, 2025. The event will be held at the FTC headquarters in Washington, D.C., and also will be streamed online for virtual attendees.

The full-day public workshop will convene parents, child safety advocates, policymakers, and experts in psychology, technology and law to examine how digital platforms design features intended to maximize engagement—particularly among children and teens. Panelists will explore the potential effects of these design choices on youth well-being and child safety. The discussion will also include potential solutions and safeguards, such as age verification tools and strengthened parental consent requirements.

The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET, and registration will be required for those attending in person. Further details—including registration instructions, speaker lineups and the agenda—will be posted on the FTC’s event page ahead of the workshop. A livestream link will be available on FTC.gov on the morning of the event.

The FTC is still accepting panelists who have relevant expertise or research to share. Interested parties should email AttentionEconomy@ftc.gov by April 30, 2025. The Commission is not accepting substantive public comments at this time.