FOIAengine: News Media Seeks Records from Consumer Sentinel Network
New research from PoliScio Analytics demonstrates how journalists use Freedom of Information Act requests to the Federal Trade Commission to uncover bad news about companies and individuals.
The FTC requests we analyzed targeted large companies like Facebook and OpenAI, little-known companies like Charcuterie Artisans and SugarDaddyMeet.com, and famous individuals like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.
According to PoliScio Analytics’ competitive-intelligence database FOIAengine, which tracks FOIA requests in as close to real-time as their availability allows, the FTC received a total of 519 FOIA requests during September and October, with submitters seeking everything from internal investigation documents to leadership calendars.
But the most popular type of request, accounting for over 100 submissions, sought copies of consumer complaints to the FTC that named specific companies and consumer threats.
The news media submitted 48 of those 100 consumer complaint requests. Most came from major players, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, CBS News, Fox, Reuters, The New Yorker, and Wired. Also active were ProPublica and Muckrock, nonprofit organizations dedicated to journalism and transparency.
Companies targeted by requests included Facebook, Tesla, Hasbro, OpenAI, Rover, Ticketmaster, Instagram, Microsoft, DocuSign, Lucas Oil, and Truth Social.
Other requests were about specific topics, like cryptocurrency, racial bias in AI products, blood test scams, and medical spas. One submission sought complaints about political fundraisers WinRed and ActBlue.
Most of the requests sought FTC documents, but six requests specifically asked for information from the broader Consumer Sentinel Network. CSN, which received over 5.4 million consumer complaints in 2023, was created by the FTC in 1997 and houses records from the FTC and 100 contributors, including state consumer protection offices, state attorneys general, foreign antitrust bureaus, major companies like Apple and Microsoft, and many U.S. government agencies.
The FTC describes CSN as “an investigative cyber tool and complaint database for law enforcement officials only.” It includes millions of reports about coronavirus scams, identity theft, Do-Not-Call Registry violations, telemarketing scams, loan and credit scams, and other consumer related complaints.
The only organizations that can access CSN are 2,800 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, plus a limited number of international law enforcement authorities. But filing an FTC FOIA request for information from CSN is a way for news media, law firms, universities, non-profits and companies to track down additional consumer complaints, if the FTC doesn’t deem the information confidential.
The following are examples of FTC news media requests for consumer complaint information, including from the Consumer Sentinel Network, about specific companies and topics.
- Dana Hull of Bloomberg News submitted a request on September 16 asking for “any complaints made to the FTC about Elon Musk, the owner of X, since July 13, 2024.”
- Reece Rogers of WIRED submitted three requests on September 30, October 8, and October 21 seeking complaints relating to ChatGPT, OpenAI and “similar language models” that “generate content perceived as homophobic, discriminatory, or offensive towards LGBTQ+ individuals or communities,” or allege “racial bias or discrimination associated with AI technologies developed by OpenAI.”
- Amy Corral of CBS News & Stations asked the FTC to “please provide the number of complaints issued regarding tickets stolen from consumer Ticketmaster accounts September 1, 2024, to the present. If possible, please provide copies of these complaints.”
- Matt Novak submitted several requests about different companies. On September 30, he asked for “all consumer complaints about the social media platform Truth Social, filed from June 11, 2022, to present.” On October 7, he submitted two requests, one for “all consumer complaints filed about cryptocurrency scams that mention Elon Musk, excluding Do Not Call complaints, from February 1, 2024, to present” and another for “all consumer complaints filed about Tesla’s Cybertruck (sometimes styled as two words: Cyber Truck), excluding Do Not Call complaints, from January 2023 to present.”
- Zeke Faux of Bloomberg News filed three similar requests on September 23, September 25, and October 18 asking the FTC to “please search the Consumer Sentinel database for complaints referencing” 18 different companies, including Corvantis, FirstEnroll, and a list of 16 companies.
- Matthew Goldstein of The New York Times submitted a request on October 8 for “complaints filed against Tricon Residential or any letters from the FTC to Tricon Residential regarding tenants complaints” between January 3, 2022, and October 8, 2024.
- Adam Iscoe of The New Yorker submitted, on October 9 and October 15, three requests for “all consumer complaints against The Knot, WeddingWire, WeddingPro, and their parent company The Knot Worldwide” from January 1, 2018, to October 1, 2024.
- Yeganeh Torbati of The Washington Post submitted on October 18 a request for “any consumer complaints made to the FTC between Jan. 1, 2022, and the date this request is processed that mention the following terms: ‘medical spa,’ ‘medspa’ or ‘med spa.’”
- Craig Silverman of ProPublica submitted on September 4 a request for “a copy of all complaints the FTC has in its reportfraud.ftc.gov/Consumer Sentinel database that contain any of the following terms: ‘Media Alpha‘ ‘Quotelab‘ ‘Minerva Marketing‘ ‘Seniors Today USA‘ ‘The Burial Solution‘ ‘American Benefits & Services LLC‘ ‘Final Expense Authority LLC‘ ‘Heartwork global‘ ‘patriotdemocracy.com‘ ‘informedempowerment.com’ ‘tacticalempowerment.com’ ‘Stars and Stripes Supply’ ‘starsandstripessupply.com’ and ‘conservativenewsdaily.org.’”
- Two Muckrock representatives – Michael Ohare and Scott Cannon – submitted requests for information about consumer complaints targeting smaller companies. For example, an October 11 request from Cannon sought “all records of consumer complaints filed against Cettire since January 1, 2024. This request includes, but is not limited to, documents detailing issues related to product quality, shipping delays, refund and return disputes, billing or payment problems, customer service interactions, misleading advertising, unauthorized charges, and any other allegations of deceptive or unfair business practices involving these companies.”
- Allison Gormly submitted on September 11 a request for “fraud complaints with keywords (Facebook OR Instagram) AND (Taylor Swift OR Eras) AND Tickets AND (Indy OR Indiana* OR Lucas Oil)” between August 1, 2023, and August 29, 2024.
- Rebecca Heilweil submitted on October 2 a request for “all CSN complaints about Microsoft and DocuSign.”
- Sheena Meng asked on October 31 for “consumer complaints to the FTC about WinRed and ActBlue, provided in spreadsheet format if possible, with all publicly available information and data fields” from January 1, 2022, to October 31, 2024.
FOIAengine access now is available for all professional members of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of journalism. IRE is the world’s oldest and largest association of investigative journalists. Following the federal government’s shutdown of FOIAonline.gov last year, FOIAengine is the only source for the most comprehensive, fully searchable archive of FOIA requests across dozens of federal departments and agencies. FOIAengine has more robust functionality and searching capabilities and standardizes data from different agencies to make it easier to work with. PoliScio Analytics is proud to be partnering with IRE to provide this valuable content to investigative reporters worldwide.
To see all the requests mentioned in this story, log in or sign up to become a FOIAengine trial user.
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Randy E. Miller, co-creator of FOIAengine, is a Washington lawyer, publisher, and former government official. He has developed several online information products and was a partner at Hogan Lovells, where he founded the firm’s Brussels office and represented clients on international regulatory matters. Miller also has served as a White House trade lawyer, Senior Legal Adviser to the U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization, policy director to Senator Bob Dole, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Yale and Georgetown Law. FOIAengine is a product of PoliScio Analytics (PoliScio.com), a venture specializing in U.S. political and governmental research, co-founded by Miller and Washington journalist John A. Jenkins. Learn more about FOIAengine here. Sign up here to become a trial user of FOIAengine.
Write to Randy E. Miller at randy@poliscio.com.