FTC Notice of 1 October 2026 Asks Whether Ad Platforms Such as Google, Meta and Amazon Should Bear the Cost of Impersonation Scam Ads Their AI Tools Optimize

What the FTC published on 1 October 2026

The Federal Trade Commission published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (91 FR 62347, RIN 3084-AB90) asking whether it should amend its 2024 Impersonation Rule to reach search engines, social media and other digital marketplace platforms. The notice gives Google.com, Facebook.com, Amazon.com, the Apple App Store and LinkedIn.com as examples. Its stated aim is to make platforms internalize the cost of optimizing fraudulent ads that impersonate government agencies and businesses. Comments are due by 30 November 2026, and the Office of Management and Budget has classed the action as significant under Executive Order 12866.

Why AI ad optimization is the target

The Commission does not propose to police every ad. It focuses on platform ad optimization: the AI tools that write ad copy, generate images, assemble headlines and pick audiences. It quotes Meta's description of Advantage+ and Google's own account of how its AI finds the best ad combinations. The notice cites 2025 consumer reports of nearly $3.5 billion lost to imposter scams, and a Reuters investigation reporting an internal Meta estimate that about 10 percent of its 2024 revenue came from ads for scams and banned goods, an estimate Meta disputed. It also explains why the Commission thinks Section 230 may not shield these services. This post reads the notice section by section.