How Lina Khan Became Antitrust Critics' Favorite Target

On the Media

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4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In March 2021, when President Joe Biden announced the nomination of Lina Khan to be a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, the decision was met with a rare kind of excitement for the otherwise sleepy agency. The excitement seemed bipartisan as 21 Republican senators voted to confirm the commissioner. Not long after, then 32-year-old Khan was promoted to chairperson of the agency, making her the youngest chair in the FTC's history. Since then the tone around Khan has changed dramatically, as Republican commissioners at the agency have pushed back against what they see as a radical agenda. For this week's pod OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Emily Birnbaum, a technology and lobbying reporter for Bloomberg, about a growing anti-antitrust movement emerging in the press and in Washington and why Khan has become its main target.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Michael O'Longer.
0:01.3	You're listening to the On the Media Podcast Extra.
0:04.2	Back in March 2021, when President Jill Biden
0:07.2	announced the nomination of Lena Khan
0:09.6	to the Federal Trade Commission,
0:11.8	the decision was met with a rare kind of excitement
0:15.1	for the otherwise sleepy agency.
0:18.0	She is a noted and vocal critic of Big Tech also,
0:22.4	one of the leading academics on antitrust.
0:25.0	By the way, she's only 32 years old,
0:26.4	and she's leading one of the top federal agencies
0:28.6	in terms of the business community, the FTC.
0:30.7	Even some Republicans were jazzed about her appointment,
0:33.6	including Ted Cruz.
0:35.1	Ms. Khan, congratulations on your nomination.
0:37.9	As you know, I have deep concerns about Big Tech.
0:41.8	And I believe the FTC should be doing much more
0:45.6	to rein in the anti-competitive abuses of Big Tech.
0:49.1	I look forward to working with you on them.
0:50.8	Thank you.
0:52.4	Since then, the tone around Khan has changed dramatically
0:56.8	as Republican commissioners at the agency
	...

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