House Committee Launches Probe into FTC Chair Lina Khan

Emily Birnbaum and Billy House
·3-min read

(Bloomberg) -- The House Oversight Committee is opening an investigation into US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, ratcheting up the fight between the GOP and Khan as she attempts to reinvigorate the consumer protection agency.

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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer in a letter on Thursday asked Khan to turn over a wide range of documents, including an unredacted opinion written by former Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson, communications among commissioners about the FTC’s authority to clamp down on corporate America, and documents about whether Khan should have recused herself from a case involving Meta Platforms Inc. The letter was shared first with Bloomberg News.

The investigation is the latest salvo by House Republicans against Khan, whom they have accused of amassing too much power at the FTC. Khan and her allies have insisted she is reawakening the agency’s long-dormant authority to curb harmful and exploitative business practices across the US economy. The House Judiciary Committee and House Energy and Commerce Committee have both announced separate probes into Khan’s leadership at the FTC.

Comer said the Oversight Committee’s investigation will focus specifically on allegations from Wilson, the Republican commissioner who left the agency earlier this year. Wilson announced she was resigning from the agency in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, alleging that Khan was acting in “defiance of legal precedent.”

“We seek documents and information to shed light on Commissioner Wilson’s allegations and determine the extent to which the Commission has deviated from its mission to protect America’s consumer,” Comer wrote.

Among the documents the committee wants to see is Wilson’s unredacted dissent to the committee’s rejection of Meta’s request to bar Khan from taking part in an administrative case challenging Meta’s acquisition of virtual-reality startup Within. The FTC withdrew the complaint in February.

“Under Chair Khan, the FTC is proud to be defending American consumers from harm and ensuring fair competition in the economy,” said FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar. “We look forward to working with Congress to dispel former Commissioner Wilson’s imaginative allegations.”

Khan, a leader in the progressive movement to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement, has been the a major target for free-market and libertarian conservatives since she was nominated as chair in 2021. She previously served as a staffer on the House Judiciary Committee during its monthslong investigation into the country’s largest tech companies. As an academic at Columbia University, Khan advocated for paring back the power of tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc using antitrust laws.

During her time at the helm of the FTC, Khan has pursued expansive efforts to ban non-compete agreements, challenge mergers between tech companies including Microsoft Corp. and Activision Blizzard Inc., and crack down on companies that violate user privacy.

The House Judiciary Committee separately subpoenaed documents Khan related to the FTC’s ongoing probe of Twitter Inc. last month.

(Updates with FTC response in seventh paragraph)

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