After being confirmed as the youngest commissioner for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday, several news reports confirm that 32 year old Lina Khan could also become the chair of the agency.
The young academic is known for her critical stance toward market consolidation of Big Tech, underlining a willingness for tighter regulation of the digital markets under the Biden administration.
Khan initially rose to prominence with her 2017 paper “Amazon Antitrust Paradox”, in which she called for new antitrust statutes as the contemporary regulations are not sufficient to avert anti-competitive behaviour of market dominators.
During her confirmation hearing in April, she further stated “that in some instances the agencies have been a little slow to catch up to the underlying business realities and the empirical realities of how these markets work” and highlighted the knowledge gap that persists between tech companies and regulators.
How the FTC might change as Khan takes her place remains to be seen, but that change coupled with Congress’ increased focus on antitrust reforms indicate that tighter regulation could be likely in the near future.