“I don’t even know how to access my account,” Mr. Simons said.

His comfort zone is antitrust regulation, a major focus for the F.T.C. and an area in which he has worked for most of his career. In his meticulous office, Mr. Simons keeps handy a worn Yale Law Journal with red plastic tabs on antitrust articles. He has had six of its authors speak at the F.T.C. since he arrived.

In one of his first actions as chairman, he held hearings on updating merger reviews and antitrust enforcement in the digital age. In late February, he announced a task force of 17 antitrust staff members to study potential problems that could arise from past tech mergers.

“In antitrust, you want to focus on areas where there is likely to be market power or monopoly power,” Mr. Simons said. “So it is not unreasonable to look at big digital platforms and say, well, that might be an ripe area to look at.”

He is new to the world of data privacy and admits he is cramming to understand it, immersing himself in articles and grilling staff about data protection. But that, he said, allows him to bring a “fresh perspective” to privacy enforcement.

“I am willing to look at everything with a fresh eye, and to question long-held beliefs and assumptions,” he said.

The F.T.C. monitors whether companies like Google, Uber and Facebook break promises written into privacy policies. But it can’t directly fine a company for a first-time offense; it can only charge a company with deceptive or unfair business practices, which the agency must prove in court. The potential penalty against Facebook could reach billions of dollars because the case hinges on whether it violated a previous settlement.