US FTC Chief Lina Khan Names Top Staffers, Including Competition Chief

The FTC sued Facebook last year for violating antitrust law and has an investigation open into Amazon.

By Reuters | Updated: 25 June 2021 11:12 IST

US FTC Chief Lina Khan Names Top Staffers, Including Competition Chief

Lina Khan helped write report alleging abuses of market dominance by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Alphabet

Highlights

Holly Vedova will be the acting head of the Bureau of Competition
Sam Levine will be the acting head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection
Erie Meyer is chosen to be the agency's chief technologist

Tech critic and the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, has named three top staffers in a signal that the agency could become more aggressive in how it enforces antitrust law and laws against deceptive advertising.

Khan, who was sworn in on June 15, named Holly Vedova to be the acting head of the Bureau of Competition, Sam Levine to be the acting head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Erie Meyer to be the agency's chief technologist, an FTC spokesman said on Thursday.

The three currently work at the FTC as advisors to Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra, according to their profiles on Linkedin. Chopra is a progressive who has been nominated to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and is awaiting confirmation.

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Khan herself worked in Chopra's office for part of 2018 as a legal fellow.

Observers broadly expect the FTC to become more aggressive under Khan although in the instances that the agency cannot reach an agreement on matters their lawyers must argue their cases before a judge.

The FTC, which works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law, sued Facebook last year for violating antitrust law and has an investigation open into Amazon.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

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