User interaction with digital platforms: A consumer protection perspective

The rapid growth of digital platforms has transformed how consumers interact with the marketplace and led to new challenges for consumer protection. This Perspective describes how the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics uses behavioral insights and empirical methods to support efforts to prevent unfair or deceptive business practices in digital markets. We highlight two studies that address critical knowledge gaps in digital consumer protection, including how consumers perceive and respond to advertising disclosures and how digital design choices affect the accessibility and effectiveness of consumer reporting tools. The studies illustrate how behavioral research can be used both prospectively, to evaluate potential remedies, and retrospectively, to assess the effects of past Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions. The first study is a laboratory experiment that examines how the salience of advertising disclosures influences consumer recognition of and engagement with advertising content, where engagement is defined as the time users spend viewing ads. The second is a retrospective analysis of a redesigned consumer complaint website, using a natural experiment to evaluate the effect of usability improvements on complaint submission rates and information quality. Together, these studies demonstrate how applied research on user behavior can inform marketplace oversight and the design of consumer-facing tools. We conclude by outlining ongoing efforts to expand the role of empirical research at the FTC to strengthen the foundation for evidence-based policymaking in an increasingly complex digital environment.