Big Tech Antitrust Crusader Lina Khan Joins the FTC

Today the senate overpoweringly confirm technical school critic and 32 - year - old Columbia professor Lina Khan to join the Federal Trade Commission by avote of 69 - 28 . They can agree on rectify big tech ; given their track phonograph recording of bitching and moaning and proposing rottenly uninformed and/or nefarious proposals to do it themselves , it ’s squeamish to see them band together to do the stark lower limit .

Khan , a Biden appointment , is a promising problem - solver who ’s floated specific proposals to update antitrust law in society to give Google , Apple , Amazon , and Facebook ’s rival a fighting chance . In a well - known newspaper publisher , she’sproposedbroadening traditional antitrust policy and applying carrier rules to regulate Amazon . She ’s also proposed prevail in technical school company by revisitingstructural separationsthat would prevent Apple ( eg ) from both controlling the mart and compete with business that depend on the App Store . As counsel to the House Judiciary Committee ’s Subcommittee on Antitrust , Commercial , and Administrative Law , Khan contributed to aninvestigationinto the technical school oligopolies ’ commercial enterprise practices .

Biden might be progress a cross - departmental donnish A - squad of braggy technical school critic . In March , he appointed Columbia professor Tim Wu , author of “ The Curse of Bigness : Antitrust in the New Gilded Age , ” as a presidential advisor on technology and competition .

Photo: Graeme Jennings (AP)

This makes a 3 - 2 majority Democratic mission , though Democratic commissioner Rohit Chopra might relocate to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a Biden - appoint head . As the Wall Street Journalhas noted , it could take calendar month to fill his seat . Additionally , Biden has yet to propose an FTC nous as well as the Justice Department ’s adjunct attorney general who would work with the FTC to enforce penalty against technical school companies .

The FTCis alreadylooking into tech companies ’ acquisitions of minor companies which had n’t previously been reported to regulators . It has also launched a joint investigation with New York and California attorneys world-wide into Amazon , Bloombergreportedlast yr . Over an up to seven - yr term , Khan will be endow to help craft rules , enforce regularisation , and launch investigations .

In another positivist variety , the FTC will no longer beharanguedto enforce a personal blood feud against social media companies for comprehend censoring .

How To Watch French Open Live On A Free Channel