President Biden reportedly will nominate Lina Khan, a well-known anti-monopolist and a vocal critic of Big Tech’s powers, to the Federal Trade Commission. The move signals the administration’s intent to pursue an aggressive tech regulatory agenda to rein in companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
Khan is going through the final parts of her background check before the Biden administration announces her nomination, Politico reported. She would then have to be confirmed by the Senate before taking up the role.
Khan’s nomination follows the announcement earlier this month that Biden has tapped another prominent Big Tech critic, Timothy Wu, to join the White House as a special assistant on technology and competition policy.
Khan is an antitrust professor at Columbia Law School whose research has focused on technology markets. She previously worked as an aide to Democratic FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra and served as a top adviser on the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, which conducted a major investigation into abuse by Big Tech platforms.
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The antitrust panel investigation, which she helped guide, concluded that expansive antitrust reforms are needed for large tech platforms, including banning Big Tech firms from competing with smaller companies that are dependent on it in certain markets. This could mean, for example, that Amazon could not sell the similar products that smaller firms first invented and sold on the Amazon platform.
The committee also suggested making it more difficult for dominant companies to acquire smaller ones.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, the top Republican on the Senate antitrust subcommittee, outlined opposition to Khan Tuesday morning.
Lee said that “she lacks the experience necessary for such an important role” and that “her views on antitrust enforcement are also wildly out of step with a prudent approach to the law.”
Khan is perhaps most well-known for publishing a groundbreaking paper as a law student at Yale on “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” which concluded that many of the retail giant’s actions, particularly how it set its prices, could break antitrust law.
Antitrust laws are meant to protect consumers from anti-competitive mergers and business practices. The trade commission and the Justice Department are responsible for antitrust enforcement primarily through investigations, lawsuits, penalties, and fines.
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If confirmed by the Senate, Khan would join the five-member trade commission at a time when it is expected to feature more aggressive antitrust enforcement, especially with regard to Big Tech, now that it is set to receive bipartisan support for funding and resources.
