June 17, 2021: In a surprise decision Tuesday, President Biden tapped Leena Khan, one of the most prominent critics of Big Tech, to lead the Federal Trade Commission. In that role, Khan will have the authority to guide the FTC’s agenda by taking a hawkish stance toward Big Tech.
The move is already being publicized by industry groups, and with a warning from the Conservative Open Competition Center, Khan will use the “no-confidence law” as a Trojan horse to advance her goals and policy priorities.
But it’s not just Khan who is sounding the alarm in the tech industry. Khan’s position in the FTC is only part of a series of no-confidence motions by the US government. It is an effort that is largely moving in two directions. After years of publicity and confusion, a bilateral consensus on tech no-confidence is finally taking shape in Congress, the Department of Justice, and the FTC – with unexpected results from targets such as Facebook and Google.
Last week, the House Judiciary Committee issued a slate of bilateral bills to end the power of tech, including measures that would allow the FTC and the Department of Justice to sell parts of their businesses to these companies.
On Wednesday, Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) added that the committee would take immediate action to move the bills forward, saying the package could be marked early next week. Once approved by the committee, the bills will face a vote on the entire House floor. There is also a bilateral movement in the Senate to pass similar reforms.
During a hearing on the competition in the smart home market on Tuesday, Sen. Amy klobuchar (D-MN) praised the House’s efforts. Earlier that day, Klobuchar told Politico that she would begin work on introducing a companion bill in the Senate.
In a Congress that likes to block fundamental change, largely because of Filebuster, these competitively competitive reforms are pushing the boundaries. At a House press conference Wednesday on the package, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including the most progressive and conservative sections of the party, called on their colleagues to support the measures. Khan’s nomination was also unanimously approved in the Senate, suggesting that there could be a broad consensus on these reforms in the upper house.
This consensus is also important for Khan, as the FTC cannot move forward on its aggressive agenda without the help of the Congress. The FTC is still relatively weak compared to the big tech companies it wants to regularize, with less than $ 350 million a year that companies like Facebook can spend to protect their business. Competition experts say the full court will take a press approach from every branch of government to counter Big Tech.
“We need to use all the tools of the government to solve this problem, and indeed add some new tools,” Charlotte Slaiman, director competition policy for Public Knowledge, said, adding, “this will require action in the FTC, Congress and the DOJ.” Even now, the Biden administration is dragging its feet when it comes to beefing up the Justice Department.
Although Attorney General Merrick Garland has been praised by tech critics for his no-confidence experience, Biden has yet to nominate anyone to lead the department’s no-confidence motion. For now, the FTC has a majority of Democrats on the commission, but that could change in the coming days and weeks.
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