Advertisement

Big Tech critic Lina Khan wins FTC confirmation

The Senate voted 69-28 to approve Khan's appointment as an FTC commissioner.

POOL New / reuters

Lina Khan, an antitrust scholar and a prominent critic of Big Tech, has been confirmed to the Federal Trade Commission. The Senate approved Khan's appointment with a vote of 69-28.

President Joe Biden nominated Columbia Law School professor Khan to serve as an FTC commissioner in March. She published a Yale Law Journal article in 2017 that criticized the US antitrust framework, claiming that current laws and policies are no longer sufficient to keep major tech companies such as Amazon in check. During a confirmation hearing in April, Khan argued "that the ability to dominate one market gives companies, in some instances, the ability to expand into adjacent markets.”

"I’m so grateful to the Senate for my confirmation," Khan wrote in a tweet. "Congress created the FTC to safeguard fair competition and protect consumers, workers, and honest businesses from unfair & deceptive practices. I look forward to upholding this mission with vigor and serving the American public."

Biden has yet to nominate a permanent chair for the agency or someone to head up the Department of Justice’s antitrust division, as The New York Times notes. However, there are other prominent antitrust proponents in his administration. Earlier this year, the president appointed Tim Wu, a net neutrality advocate who coined that term, as a White House advisor on the National Economic Council.