In fact, the headline kind of underplays the significance -- everything in that time period was deleted! Including posts critical of Amazon, Microsoft, and AI Companies, among everything else that was deleted.
>The posts in question are public and available here: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog
The deleted posts in question are not available there, because they were deleted. Blog jumps from December 2020 to March 2025.
This one thing is, all by itself, worthy of impeachment and prison sentences for the people who abetted it. Add it to the list, and don't downplay even the small ones. If we're going to come out the other side of this every one of these violations matters and will need to be accounted for.
Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both
A different section allows prison terms of up to 10 years, but only if the "market value" of that data is high enough. I'm not sure if this data actually has a market value, but it is still a legal requirement to preserve.
It’s not perfect, or enough, but we should stand up for the rule of law rather than trying to score Internet points by cynically conceding it.
America is in a terrifying end-game for democracy
The whirlwind we face today is an inevitable outcome from the consequences of those choices.
There are specific components required by a rule of law which are not met. It was conceded by past generations that still hold political power today as a cohort.
Edit: Do feel free to not believe me and in doing so dig into the details and prove me wrong.
A "rule by law" is the system that lacks the components required by a "rule of law". This former is the same as any totalitarian or fascist state.
Given the time horizon of case resolution, when you can find more than 3 instances of failures relating to the judicial branch within a few years, in each court, where the components are not true, then its failed. 3 is sufficient to be statistically significant within a short time horizon.
Not a pleasant thought, but neither is burying your head in the sand thinking it will be better that you not see something, while at the same time choosing to become meat for the hungry lion that you didn't want to see.
unless you have some specifics and produce them, this is classic FUD
The thing can be standing with a knee on their neck and they'd still be clueless.
You'll find a lot of material if you go looking with the right questions. Why don't you start with looking at what happened with George Floyd.
If they're archived offline, then no, not necessarily. But they'd be on the hook for being able to reply to a FOIA request in a timely manner, and I'd bet dollars to donuts they didn't even try to verify if backups were made.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250122132931/https://www.ftc.g...
It's not about just reading them, it's about being sure they're not trying to erase public information that they should have.
It won't work, but at least you could say you tried to apply the law. That's worth something.
What is that worth?
Geoffrey: My you chivalric fool... as if the way one fell down mattered.
Richard: When the fall is all there is, it matters.
Do or do not. There is no try.