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| Douglas Farrar |
Douglas Farrar, who was VP-communications and strategy at the Carnegie Center for International Peace, has joined the Federal Trade Commission as PA director.
His job is to make sure the FTC is "communicating clearly with the public about the critical work of the agency," according to chair Lina Khan.
Farrar, who hosted Carnegie's "The World Unpacked" podcast, also was assistant director of communication at the Aspen Institute.
He has Capitol Hill experience gained from working in the offices of Democratic Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney (NY) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA).
The FTC was working on revamping its regulations concerning celebrity endorsements, but that effort was put on hold with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those guidelines covering "influencers" date from 2009.
The Securities and Exchange Commission's move to fine Kim Kardashian for promoting a crypto asset security on her Instagram account without disclosing that she received a $250K payment for the plug could spur the FTC to revive its push to tighten rules regarding influencers.
Erik Hotmire has rejoined the Securities and Exchange Commission as chief external affairs officer and director of the Office of Public Affairs.
California seeks a firm to handle a $3.5M marketing/ad program to promote awareness of, and increase sign-ups in, its job corps program. 
The National Highway Safety Administration has awarded its public education to Stratacomm following a competitive re-compete process.
Congress wants the FTC to probe whether TikTok violated child privacy laws when it launched a last-ditch lobbying blitz to defeat the bill requiring its owner, ByteDance, to divest it.
Jeffrey Nesbit, who served as communications director for former vice president Dan Quayle, is named assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
