Bloomberg: Biden Sets Stage for Tech Crackdown With White House Adviser Wu

March 9, 2021 Media

President Joe Biden’s plan to put two progressive antitrust scholars in top positions signals an aggressive approach to combating corporate consolidation and monopoly power, especially that wielded by technology giants such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc.

Biden’s team is vetting Lina Khan, a Columbia Law School professor who specializes in antitrust law, to serve as a member of the Federal Trade Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. Last week, he named another Columbia law professor, Timothy Wu, to join the National Economic Council as a special assistant on technology and competition policy.

The American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly group closely aligned with Khan’s point of view, said Biden must appoint aggressive enforcers to the Justice Department and the other open FTC seat.

“The Biden-Harris administration needs to turn the page on the ideology and policies that brought us to the brink,” Sarah Miller, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.

Khan would take over one of five seats on the FTC, which is being run by Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. While enforcement decisions require a majority vote, the chair of the agency wields significant power.