Six months with Chair Lina Khan's Federal Trade Commission

Lina Khan's first six months leading the Federal Trade Commission has shown she's either shaken up a sleepy bureaucracy or pushed long-standing norms too far, depending on who you ask. As President Biden's first year ends, many are watching Khan's FTC to see whether it really can fundamentally change how the US regulates big companies and how tech should treat consumers. Entering the role, the 32-year-old, known for her scholarship in antitrust and competition policy, targeted what she sees as monopolistic behavior in Big Tech and beyond. Under Khan, the agency re-filed its case accusing Facebook of buying up competitors to maintain dominance. So far, Khan's tenure has seen more table-setting for future actions than major high-profile antitrust cases. Those who want to see Big Tech taken to task hope to see Khan bring major cases that would spin off prior acquisitions and block proposed mergers. "We are really feeling a sense of urgency and are hopeful [Khan] will be doing as much as possible as quickly as possible because of the potential threat of a hostile Republican Congress," said Alex Harman, competition policy advocate at Public Citizen. In a regulatory filing this month, the FTC detailed its future plans that include consideration of developing rules around penalties for firms that abuse user data, protecting users from surveillance-based business harm and ensuring algorithmic decision-making isn't discriminatory.