Some republican senators were clearly not paying attention. (Or perhaps tech company lobbyists simply aren't paying them enough.)
Senate confirms Lina Khan to Federal Trade Commission in a 69-28 vote
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Lina Khan to the Federal Trade Commission, elevating one of the tech industryâs most prominent antitrust critics to the governmentâs top Silicon Valley watchdog.
The vote was 69-28 in a Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, signaling the growing bipartisan interest in reining in large tech companiesâ power, just days after House lawmakers from both parties unveiled a series of bills that could force Silicon Valley companies to change their business practices and in the most severe cases, break the companies up.
Khan, who is aligned with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, is well-known for her 2017 paper, âAmazonâs Antitrust Paradox,â which argued that decades-old antitrust laws arenât equipped to deal with the e-commerce giant and the unique ways it exerts its dominance. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) [emphasis mine]
[You're tellin' me that at least 19 GOP senators voted a liberal democrat onto the FTC? They must not have been paying attention.]
Khan previously worked as a counsel for the House Judiciaryâs antitrust panel, where she helped lead an investigation into the tech giants. That probeâs findings of monopoly-style tactics and anti-competitive behavior at Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon gave rise to the recent bills introduced by House lawmakers.
During her confirmation hearing, she signaled she would take a tough line on regulating tech giants. She said that in the past few years, new evidence has come to light showing there were âmissed opportunitiesâ for enforcement actions against tech companies under the Obama administration. She also said new findings show the FTC must be âmuch more vigilantâ when it comes to large acquisitions in digital markets.
Khan also said she was particularly concerned about the ways in which large companies use their dominance in one market to give them an upper hand in others, an issue under intense scrutiny by Congress.
[What?? Using "their dominance... to give them an upper hand" is the very essence of capitalism. Does the GOP know what they're supporting?]
Khan is one of several critics of big tech that Biden has brought into his administration. Tim Wu, who has called for antitrust action against the tech giants, works on competition and technology policy on the National Economic Council. Vanita Gupta, who has criticized big techâs civil rights record, is now associate attorney general at the Justice Department.
But Biden has yet to put forth nominees for other key tech enforcement positions in the administration, and itâs unclear if he will elevate people more aligned with Khan or more business-friendly Democrats. Nearly five months into his term, Biden has not yet announced his nominee for the top spot in the Justice Department antitrust division, or to fill a vacancy at the Federal Communications Commission.
Khanâs confirmation gives Democrats a 3-2 majority at the FTC, as she joins acting chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Chopra. But Chopra is awaiting a Senate vote on his nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If heâs confirmed, Biden would have another FTC vacancy to fill, and until then, the commission would be deadlocked between Democrats and Republicans.
Khan is joining the agency amid growing concerns over whether it has adequate powers and resources, particularly to take on technology giants. The Senate recently passed a bill that would increase funding for the agency by overhauling merger filing fees, and House lawmakers introduced similar legislation as part of their package targeting large tech companies.
Advocates for greater enforcement of antitrust law said Khanâs confirmation signals a turning point for the agency.
âHer presence on the FTC marks the beginning of the end of an era of lawlessness for powerful corporations that theyâve enjoyed at the expense of workers, smaller businesses, and democracy," said Sarah Miller, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project.
Tech industry groups criticized the Senateâs vote. Netchoice, which counts Amazon, Facebook and Google among its members, said it was âdisheartenedâ by the confirmation, and warned that Khanâs positions on antitrust issues could harm the United States economically.
âLina Khanâs antitrust activism detracts from the Federal Trade Commissionâs reputation as an impartial body that enforces the law in a non-discriminatory fashion," Netchoice said in a statement.
More antitrust activity is expected in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, as the Senate Judiciary antitrust panel is set to host a hearing on competition issues related to connected home devices. Executives from Sonos, Apple and Google are expected to testify, as well as academics.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the panelâs chair, said the hearing would examine an emerging market dynamic, âwhere only a handful of powerful companies dominate.â
#USA #Business #Tech #FTC #Khan #USSenate
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/15/khan-ftc-confirmation-vote/
