Big Tech Critic Lina Khan Nominated as US FTC Commissioner

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] The White House has nominated Lina Khan, an antitrust expert and professor at Columbia University, as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

On the 21st (local time), the White House announced plans to nominate Lina Khan, former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee, as an FTC commissioner.

Bloomberg reported that Khan's nomination to the FTC suggests that the Biden administration is considering a more aggressive application of laws against big tech companies.

Previously, the White House appointed Tim Wu, a critic of big tech companies and a law professor at Columbia University, as the President's Special Assistant for Technology and Competition Policy at the National Economic Council (NEC).

Khan participated for a year and a half as a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, drafting reports that pointed out antitrust violations by IT tech giants abusing their market dominance.

In her 2017 thesis titled "The Amazon Antitrust Paradox," written upon graduating from Yale Law School, Khan argued that the current antitrust approach is inadequate to address the harms caused by online platforms like Amazon.

She also worked as a legal advisor to Rohit Chopra, who was nominated as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under the current administration.

The FTC is an independent U.S. government agency overseeing antitrust and consumer protection policies. If Khan is confirmed through the appointment process, she will become one of the five commissioners leading the agency.

Earlier, the Biden administration appointed Tim Wu, who voiced criticism of IT giants in his book "The Big Nine," as the President's Special Assistant for Technology and Competition Policy at the National Economic Council.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.