Big Tech critic Khan becomes U.S. FTC chair
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[June 16, 2021]
By David Shepardson, Nandita Bose and Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Lina Khan, an
antitrust researcher focused on Big Tech's immense market power, was
sworn in on Tuesday as chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, a
victory for progressives seeking a clampdown on tech firms who hold a
hefty share of a growing sector of the economy.
Hours earlier, the U.S. Senate had confirmed Khan, with bipartisan
support.
She recently taught at Columbia Law School. Previously, as a staffer for
the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, she helped write a
massive report alleging abuses of market dominance by Amazon.com Inc,
Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc.
"We applaud President Biden and the Senate for recognizing the urgent
need to address runaway corporate power," advocacy group Public Citizen
said in a statement.
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U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted that the administration's
selection of Khan was "tremendous news."
"With Chair Khan at the helm, we have a huge opportunity to make big,
structural change by reviving antitrust enforcement and fighting
monopolies that threaten our economy, our society, and our democracy,"
Warren said in a separate statement.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), whose board
includes representatives from tech companies, issued a statement warning
that a "populist approach to antitrust" would "cause lasting
self-inflicted damage that benefits foreign, less meritorious rivals."
The federal government and groups of states are pursuing various
lawsuits and investigations into Big Tech companies. The FTC has sued
Facebook and is investigating Amazon. The Justice Department has sued
Google.
Ahead of Khan's appointment, Google and Amazon declined comment and
Apple and Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
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![](../images/061621pics/news_q33.jpg)
FTC Commissioner nominee Lina M. Khan testifies during a Senate
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on the
nomination of Former Senator Bill Nelson to be NASA administrator,
on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., April 21, 2021. Graeme
Jennings/Pool via REUTERS
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Biden previously selected fellow progressive and Big
Tech critic Tim Wu to join the National Economic Council.
In 2017, Khan wrote a highly regarded article, "Amazon's Antitrust
Paradox," for the Yale Law Journal. It argued that the traditional
antitrust focus on price was inadequate to identify antitrust harms
done by Amazon.
In addition to antitrust, the FTC investigates allegations of
deceptive advertising.
On that front, Khan will join an agency adapting to a unanimous
Supreme Court ruling from April which said the agency could not use
a particular part of its statute, 13(b), to demand consumers get
restitution from deceptive companies but can only ask for an
injunction. Congress is considering a legislative fix.
Khan previously worked at the FTC as a legal adviser to Commissioner
Rohit Chopra, Biden's pick to be director of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Nandita Bose, Diane Bartz and
Richard Cowan in WashingtonEditing by Richard Chang, Matthew Lewis
and David Gregorio)
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