Outgoing FTC Chair Highlights Bipartisanship in Big Tech Regulation

January 8, 2025 TruthUSA

Lina Khan stated that both Democrats and Republicans collaborated on competition and consumer protection during her time as chair of the Federal Trade Commission.

The outgoing chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, remarked that there was bipartisan cooperation on various competition and consumer protection matters throughout her tenure, particularly concerning Big Tech.

“There has been this bipartisan concern regarding the implications of allowing markets to be heavily dominated by a small number of companies,” Khan mentioned during a discussion at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. on January 8, when asked about red state attorneys general participating in FTC actions.

“We had a bipartisan coalition support our lawsuit against Amazon,” she pointed out.

The FTC’s lawsuit in 2023 alleging that the tech giant employed illegal practices to sustain a monopoly was joined by several states, including the strongly Republican Oklahoma.

Additionally, a 2022 lawsuit targeting pesticide manufacturers Syngenta Crop Protection and Corteva, Inc. received backing from states such as Indiana, Texas, Iowa, and Nebraska.

In December, President-elect Donald Trump announced Andrew Ferguson as Khan’s successor, who became an FTC commissioner in April 2024, along with fellow Republican Melissa Holyoak.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated Ferguson had a “proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship.” He also appointed Mark Meador, an antitrust attorney and fellow at the Heritage Foundation, as the other Republican commissioner.

Many Republicans have voiced criticism towards Khan’s leadership at the FTC.

During a 2023 Senate nominations hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asserted that the outgoing chair had “steered the FTC far off course and pursued a clearly partisan agenda that lies well outside the agency’s legal authority and mission,” highlighting his previous experience working for the FTC on policy planning.

A report from the House Oversight Committee staff, led by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), published in October 2024, concluded that Khan had “undermined the FTC’s mission through a relentless violation of legal, procedural, historical, and management norms,” criticizing the agency for blocking the merger of Amazon with iRobot, a consumer robotics firm.

Khan has also received commendation from Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporter and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was Trump’s initial choice for attorney general, for her collaboration with Jonathan Kanter, who directed antitrust initiatives at the Department of Justice under Biden.

For instance, during a 2023 hearing, Gaetz called Khan “a brilliant woman with an extraordinary capacity to influence how consumers will interact with the digital landscape for an extended period.”

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been chosen as Trump’s new attorney general, is also known for her efforts against Big Tech’s market impact. During her tenure, Florida participated in an investigation of Google’s search practices, which led to a recent proposed final judgment by the Department of Justice.

Analyzing the situation, FGS Global analyst Josh Tzuker indicated that Bondi’s handling of the ongoing Google case “will be a significant decision for the Administration in its first 100 days and will reveal which side Bondi chooses to align with in the future.”

The president-elect seems to be more favorable towards Big Tech now than he was a few years ago when many platforms, including Twitter, banned him.

Trump has frequently been seen with SpaceX CEO and major campaign contributor Elon Musk, and in late December, he defended the H-1B visas utilized by several tech companies, which he had criticized in 2016.

Moreover, in recent instances, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, and other technological giants have made significant donations to Trump’s inaugural fund. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently announced plans to replace fact-checkers with X-style Community Notes in a video highlighting government censorship concerns under the Biden administration, expressing a willingness to collaborate with the president-elect to enhance global free speech.

“I believe they have made significant progress,” Trump remarked about Meta’s announcement during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on January 7.

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