Scribd
Upload
103 views1 page

PERSON IN THE NEWS Lina Khan "The New Antitrust Chief Taking On Big Tech" (FTIMES)

Her selection as head of the Federal Trade Commission is causing shockwaves, write James Politi and Lauren Fedor

Uploaded by

Antonio Monerris
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
103 views1 page

PERSON IN THE NEWS Lina Khan "The New Antitrust Chief Taking On Big Tech" (FTIMES)

Her selection as head of the Federal Trade Commission is causing shockwaves, write James Politi and Lauren Fedor

Uploaded by

Antonio Monerris
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Her selection as head

ofthe Federal Trade J


Commission is causing
shockwaves, writeJames
Politi and Lauren Fedor
j
J
ust befare Hallowcen In 2013,
Lina Kha n wandered through
lhe V3St selection o( sweets al
her local Safeway supermarket
and carne awaywith a disturb-
ing rcvdaUon.
The roughly 40 brands o ( candy on
lhe shelves o{(ered only a mirage of con-
sumer choi~; they were actually owned
by just two or three conrectioners.
Khan, a juniorpolicy arialystatthe time,
was so dismayed that she wrote about It
in Time magazine. "lf we want a health-
1
ier, more diverse market - and more
variety in OUT Halloween buckets - we
could stut by reviving sorne of our anti-
trustlaws."
Khan's critique of corporate power
has gane far beyond Big Candy. She has
explored COncentration issues and
~onopolistic behaviour in sectors rang_
lng from airlines lo poultry and metals,
drawi.ng similar condusions. And she
started lo train her atteotion on the
excessive market influence oC Big Tech,
eventually becoming one oC its mosl
vocal and prominentcritics.
So when Khan, who is jUSl32, was this
week tapped by US president Joe Biden
to be chair oC the Federal Trade Com-
~ission, the top compelition regulator,
It sent shockwaves through Washing-
ton, Wall Street and SUicon Valley. The
prevailing expectalion is that she will
now seek to usher in a new era oC anti-
trustenIorcement in America.
"Now she's in charge, and she's to be
feared,'" says Robert Kaminski, aman-
I Person in lhe ews I Lina Khan
aging director at Capital Alpha Partners,
a policy research group in Washington.
"She's gOL the bammer and all she sees
are nails," he adds.
Khan was bom and grew up in Lon-
don, te parents from Pakistan; the fam-
By moved to the US when she was ll.
The new antitrust chief
Tbe first mnt of ber interest in unCair
corporate behaviourcame early.
A Starbucks coffee shop across the
street from her high school in Mamar-
oned<. in the north-eastem suburbs oC
taking on Big Tech
New York City, was stopping teenagers
from sitting down because theywere too
rowdy. A furore ensued, which Khan
chronicled in her school's newspaper
and which was subsequeotly picked up is the idea that co mpanies, including but she's so difCerent from tbe personali- tional Big Tech crities such as Elizabeth
bytheNewYorkTimes. Amazon, have benefited from tax anti- ty-driven social media phenomenon Warren and Berrue Sanders to include
Khan wou1d go 00 to attend WiIliams trustscrutiny for decades, a perlad du{- rising around her." more mainstream politidans like Biden.
CoUege, where she studied politica1 the- ing which low consumer prlces became . After getting her law degree, Khan Even so, while she was expected to gain
ory. After graduating, she arrived in the dominant factor in setting competi- became a proCessor at Columbia and a place on the FTC as a eornmissioner,
Waslúngton, with a job at the New Amer- tion poliey. She envisions a differ'ent also worked with the Open Markets few predieted tbat she wou1d be mosen
ica Foundation, a centre-Ieft thínk-tank. antitrust regime, similar lo tbat which Institute, an anti-monopoly thínk-tank \oactually lead the agency.
tbat allowed her to research entrepre- exi'sted earlier in the 20th eentury, in Washington. On Capitol Hill, she "She has really managed to sou high
neUrialism and competition. "Where we when US authorlties did not hesitate to so quickly. And I would attribute it to
once had a lot of independent businesses, break up monopolies. tbe faet that she's just been incredibly
a 10t oflocaI businesses, a lot oC variety," Amazon declined te comment on her 'Now she's in charge, visionary", says Kate Judge, a professor
she said in 2012, "we now actually just appointrnent. atColumbia University lawscbooJ.
see a handful of companies that control "whatshe'sdoing 15 rea1ly justrerum- and shc's to be feared. Sarah Miller, execulive director oC tbe
a1mosteveryindustry." íng antitrust and market policy to the She·s gor the hammer American Economic Liberties Project,
Khan eventualiy landed at Yale Law status quo ante, oCthe 20s through calls Khan the "Simone Biles" ÓC anti-
School, and in January 2017 she p~b­ tbe 60s, even tbe 70s," says David Singh and al! she sees are nails' trust, referring te lhe reeord-breaking
llshed in the Yale Law Joumal the;rnde Grewal, a lawproCessor atthe University US Olympic gymnast. "Demonstrating
tbat would catapult h~,to fame: Ama- of califomiaat Berkeley. helped craft tbe House judiciary anti- tbat America has tbis massive coneen·
People who know Khan, who is trust subcommittee's probe into Blg tration crisis ... played a part in making
zon'sAntitrUStP~dox". .
The piecewent viral. Yo~ ~ almost married to a cardiologist, describe her Teeh. Many Republicans are still wary. folks in way more traditional Demo-
think of it as the first articl~ In what as unassuming and even somewhat "Her views on antitrust enforcement cratic circles realise tbat a fuU tuming oC
quick1y became a ~d o! renrussanee of reserved. 1; are also wildIy out of step witb a prudent thepagewasnecessary ... And tbatsbe
anlÍtrUs t revisionlsm, says Robert "She really maintains a private life approach to the law," said Mike Lee, tbe was tbe obvious one te help lead tbat.·
Hockett. a professor of corporate law at tbat's private," says Grewa1. "It's easy to Utah Senator, inMarch.
ComeUUruversity. think of her as tbe face of 'millennial', But Khan's standing soared in Demo- [email protected]
At tbe heart of }(han's philosophy sometimes ealled 'hlpster,' anlitrust, cratic clrcles, reaehing beyond tradl- [email protected]

You might also like