CFPB seeks more public input on Big Tech payment platforms

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a second request for public comment on big technology companies and online payment platforms as the agency seeks to better understand risks posed to consumers. 

The CFPB said Monday that it wants additional public comment on Big Tech platforms' business practices, including whether companies are adhering to key consumer protections and how they may be assessing fines and penalties.  

The bureau said it is seeking input specifically on Big Tech firms' so-called acceptable use policies, which lay out the constraints a consumer must agree to in order to gain access to certain networks or services. 

The bureau received roughly 93 public comments to a request for information last year and plans to reopen the public comment period for 30 days with additional questions. A notice will be published in the Federal Register in coming days with additional information, the CFPB said. 

"The scale and market power of large technology companies raise concerns about potential new risks to consumers and to broader competition in the marketplace," the bureau said in a press release. "We are seeking additional public input on companies' acceptable use policies and their use of fines, liquidated damages provisions, and other penalties."

Last year, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra ordered six of the largest tech firms — Amazon, Apple, Alphabet's Google, Meta, PayPal and Square (now Block) — to provide information about their payments platforms. He invited public comment on whether tech platforms were fair and competitive.

Chopra has continued to use his position to warn of tech giants' further incursion into the financial sector. Last week, the CFPB unveiled a timetable for its data access rule, known as 1033 for its section in the Dodd-Frank Act, that is often referred to as an open banking rulemaking. The CFPB must first convene a small- business review of the rule that would require banks and other financial institutions to turn over bank account data if a consumer requests that the data be shared with a third party. 

The CFPB's data rights rule is expected to be proposed next year and finalized in 2024.