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The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Lina Khan vs. Big Tech

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Barack, Washington, Wickenden, News, Obama, Politics, Wnyc, Lizza, President

4.33.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lina Khan first became known for a 2017 article she wrote for the Yale Law Journal, called "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox." Then a twenty-seven-year-old law student, she made strong arguments in favor of regulating big tech companies. The article established Khan as a central figure in a new generation of antitrust activists, who charge the government with complicity in corporate consolidation, and see the lack of regulation as contributing to social and economic disparities. Earlier this year, President Biden appointed Khan to be chair of the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces federal antitrust law. Sheelah Kolhatkar joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss the history of monopolies in the U.S., how Lina Khan is aggressively pursuing malefactors in Silicon Valley, and the challenges she faces.

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Transcript

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This is the political scene, a weekly conversation with New Yorker writers and guests about politics.

1:19.1

It's Thursday, December 9th. I'm Dorothy Wickenden, executive editor of The New Yorker.

1:25.2

Lena Kahn was a second-year student at Yale Law School when the public first started

1:30.2

hearing about her. In an article for the Yale Law Journal called Amazon's Antitrust

1:35.8

Paradox, she made a novel argument about the failure of regulators to curtail the monopolistic

1:42.0

behavior of online retailers.

1:52.0

The paper prompted a lively debate and established Khan as a central figure in a new generation of antitrust activists who charged the government with complicity in corporate consolidation and see monopolization and lack of regulation

1:59.5

as directly contributing to income inequality.

2:02.6

This June, Lena Khan was sworn in as the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission,

2:07.6

the government agency responsible for enforcing federal antitrust law.

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