House Republicans set to grill Biden's FTC chief over ethics, antitrust issues
The Federal Trade Commission has been embroiled in conflicts with Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter and others
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Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan will appear before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time on Thursday as she stands accused by the committee’s Republican members of politicizing the agency.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Khan of taking politically motivated actions against Elon Musk after he acquired Twitter last year, and Thursday’s hearing will examine further "mismanagement of the FTC and its disregard for ethics and congressional oversight under Chair Lina Khan," the panel’s website says.
The committee subpoenaed Khan in April after a panel investigation concluded the FTC "harassed" Twitter in the wake of Musk’s purchase of the social media platform.
Jordan is also expected to ask Khan about her various legal actions against tech giants regarding antitrust issues.
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Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), was subpoenaed in April after a panel investigation concluded the FTC "harassed" Twitter in the wake of Musk’s purchase of the social media platform. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The hearing comes as Khan has sought to use the agency to toughen government regulations on technology companies, prompting several legal cases.
The latest of which was settled Tuesday when a judge ruled against Khan and the agency in declining to block Microsoft’s looming $69 billion takeover of video game company Activision Blizzard. The FTC had sought to kill the deal.
A California judge ruled Tuesday that the FTC cannot stop Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley said the purchase, which would be the largest in the tech industry's history, deserved scrutiny, but the FTC lacked sufficient evidence to show it would cause serious harm. The FTC is appealing the ruling.
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Earlier this year, a judge ruled against FTC when it attempted to stop Meta from taking over the virtual reality fitness company Within Unlimited.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Khan of taking politically motivated actions against Elon Musk after he acquired Twitter last year. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The FTC has also sued Amazon for allegedly enrolling consumers into Amazon Prime without consent.
In addition, the Commission continues to investigate Twitter and is attempting to obtain Musk’s internal communications. The investigation concerns the social media company’s privacy and cybersecurity practices.
The agency has been investigating Twitter since 2011 when the company agreed to allow the FTC to investigate alleged data security lapses, but investigative efforts were ramped up following Musk’s October takeover.
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Khan, a legal scholar, previously served as counsel to the Judiciary Committee panel’s antitrust subcommittee in 2019 and 2020. In that role, she was a key participant in a sweeping bipartisan investigation of the market power of the tech giants.
The Republican-led House Judiciary panel has also gone after the tech companies for alleged censorship of conservatives and content moderation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.