Trump’s Pick for FTC Chair is Ready to Undo the Good Things From Lina Khan

President-elect Donald Trump announced connected Tuesday that helium would beryllium nominating Andrew Ferguson arsenic caput of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Ferguson would regenerate Lina Khan, a regulator who fought for user rights and pushed backmost hard against monopolists. And there’s each denotation that Ferguson plans to undo overmuch of what Khan accomplished, adjacent arsenic immoderate peculiarly credulous commentators importune he’ll combat against imaginable abuses by Big Tech.

“Andrew has a proven grounds of lasting up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech successful our Great Country,” Trump wrote Tuesday connected Truth Social. “Andrew volition beryllium the astir America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair successful our Country’s History.”

Ferguson is 1 of the 2 Republican FTC commissioners appointed by Joe Biden connected the five-person committee. No much than 3 of the Senate-approved commissioners tin travel from the aforesaid governmental party.

Under Khan’s enactment the FTC has taken bold steps connected respective fronts, banning non-compete clauses, going aft companies similar Google and Amazon for being anti-competitive, and releasing important reports connected topics similar mass surveillance by Big Tech, conscionable to sanction a few. But Ferguson hopes to undo truthful overmuch of that.

As Techdirt notes, Ferguson released a one-page papers past week that “made it wide helium was sucking up to Trump by talking astir each the powers the FTC had to spell aft his civilization warfare enemies for their speech.” The papers characterized Khan’s clip astatine the FTC arsenic portion of a “woke” docket and laid retired things that he’d accomplished to wounded the Biden administration.

“Commissioner Ferguson is the America First, pro-innovation prime for Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission,” the papers begins. “Ferguson has impeccable ineligible credentials, proven loyalty to President Donald Trump, and a way grounds of lasting up to Big Tech Censorship, DEI-wokeism, and the anti-business, anti-innovation docket of the extremist left. President Trump tin designate Ferguson arsenic Chairman of the FTC connected Day 1 of the Trump Administration—no Senate confirmation is needed for sitting FTC Commissioners to go Chairman, and his word does not expire until 2030.”

That’s evidently rather a mode to pb your income transportation connected Ferguson arsenic caput of the FTC. But it doesn’t halt there. Line by line, it ticks done the ways that Ferguson would reverse Khan’s bequest astatine the FTC, characterizing it arsenic an “anti-business agenda.” The papers promises to halt Lina Khan’s “war connected mergers” and yet halt mergers successful the satellite of Big Tech.

And it’s that past portion that truthful galore commentators person jumped connected to importune that Ferguson would really beryllium pugnacious connected Silicon Valley successful a mode that fights for the small guy. But the much you read, it’s wide Ferguson’s docket isn’t really astir helping the mean consumer. His extremity is to combat against thing conservatives don’t like, including DEI, campaigns against hatred speech, and radical bias successful algorithms. The papers besides calls retired “advertiser boycotts,” which is simply a hobbyhorse of Elon Musk. The billionaire helped Donald Trump get elected successful November by throwing implicit a 4th of a cardinal dollars astatine Trump and the Republicans, and helium insists it should fundamentally beryllium amerciable for backstage companies to halt advertizing with companies that don’t align with their values. That’s important to Musk due to the fact that his societal media level X has seen plentifulness of contention since helium bought the institution successful precocious 2022.

Obviously cipher tin foretell the future. But if you instrumentality a look astatine Ferguson’s one-page transportation to Trump for his position, it’s filled with the aforesaid MAGA-world grievances that animate the modern right. Trump has blasted Big Tech for being unfair to him, and it seems precise apt that Ferguson volition spell aft the titans of Silicon Valley but not for immoderate crushed that whitethorn align with Khan’s much progressive worldview.

The 2nd word of Donald J. Trump is poised to beryllium 1 of the astir sadistic successful history. And with Ferguson acceptable to instrumentality the helm astatine the FTC, don’t get your hopes up for thing bully to hap arsenic helium launches his warfare connected “woke” portion allowing large concern to get adjacent bigger astatine the disbursal of competition.

You tin work the afloat Ferguson papers below:

© via TechDirt