The news: The Federal Trade Commission is scrutinizing major agency holding companies just months after Omnicom and IPG agreed to place “ideological restrictions” on their ad buys in order to secure regulatory approval for their merger, per The Wall Street Journal.

Holding companies Publicis, WPP, and Dentsu are in settlement talks with the FTC following a probe to determine if the companies violated antitrust law by coordinating ad boycotts on social platforms including X.

The trend: Agencies and brands in the United States are increasingly facing regulatory scrutiny and operational risk under the Trump administration.