New York Times Reporting Lays Bare FTC Chair’s Brazen Attempt To Impose Her Extreme Agenda On A Country That Demanded Change In November

WASHINGTON – In response to bombshell reporting by the New York Times that Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan has gone into “turbo mode” as part of a “larger sprint-to-the-finish regulatory blitz” by the Biden Administration, Competitiveness Coalition Chair Scott Brown issued the following statement:

“Last month, the American public spoke with a loud and clear voice for a new direction and a break from the status quo, but Lina Khan is either choosing not to listen or is ignoring the message of voters all together. This brazen last-ditch attempt to strangle our innovators with a blizzard of regulations and mandates before the clock strikes midnight on the Biden Administration is in keeping with the manner she has led the FTC: secretive, arrogant and focused on her own political agenda, the well-being of consumers or competition be damned. If there was ever a sign that the incoming Trump Administration needs to replace the Biden-appointed and Bernie Sanders-supported Khan with a new leader, it should be this shocking power grab.” 

Among the lowlights of the Times report include these nuggets:

• “Ms. Khan’s staff has also rushed to finish an antitrust review of deals between artificial intelligence start-ups and the biggest tech companies, according to three people familiar with the agency’s activities, aiming to publish the findings before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office.”

….

• “Regulators say the activity is intended to tie up loose ends on cases the incoming Trump administration may not continue. Last-minute victories would also burnish what they view as a Democratic legacy of putting Silicon Valley on its heels.”

…

• “The agency is also pushing forward a review of billions of dollars in investments into A.I. start-ups by companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft — deals probably designed in part to avoid antitrust scrutiny that comes with buying a start-up outright, according to industry experts.”

Since 2022, the Competitiveness Coalition has been sounding the alarm on the FTC’s egregious overreach and concerning actions. The Coalition has been especially focused on allegations of Khan’s collusion with European regulators to implement sweeping new policies on American technology companies. 

For more information on the Coalition’s work on this front, please visit competitivenesscoalition.com. Members of the press can contact the coalition at press@competitivenesscoalition.com.

###