The agency invites people to testify about platforms blocking or impeding their ability to share ideas, which new FTC Chair Andrew N. Ferguson calls 'un-American [and] potentially illegal.'

The new leader of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is opening an inquiry into whether a wide range of online services from social media giants such as Meta to ride-sharing companies such as Uber "censor" users.

The FTC announcement said that "censorship by technology platforms is not just un-American, it is potentially illegal." Tech platforms' actions "may harm consumers, affect competition, may have resulted from a lack of competition, or may have been the product of anti-competitive conduct," the FTC said.