The arrival of Lina Khan to the presidency of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC, for its acronym in English) represents a matter of care for large technology companies, due to their antitrust stance, which is why Amazon presented a motion to disqualify against him, where he asked that the official be restricted from any procedure involving the electronic commerce giant.
Amazon has questioned Khan’s impartiality in carrying out his position, due to claims the commissioner has made in the past that the company is a monopoly and should be dissolved.
In the letter, the company also argues that requests for disqualification are made when a new commissioner has previously expressed views “that go beyond general policy comments and has made statements on specific factual and legal issues related to a company. in particular”.
It should be remembered that Khan, 32, has been critical of the corporate dominance of large companies in the United States. Regarding Amazon, in 2017 it published a paper titled, where it argued that new statutes were necessary to prevent the platform’s anti-competitive behavior online.
In this context, Jack Evans, a spokesman for Amazon, said that the company “must be examined together with all the large organizations. However, even large companies have the right to an impartial investigation. “
While Amazon’s initiative may generate interest, it is unlikely to bear fruit, as Khan was confirmed as president of the FTC with bipartisan support, due to her reflections on corporate power.
However, it is relevant to mention that this support does not represent the possibility that the commissioner can do what she wants, since the Federal Court of the United States has the power to continue being a body that controls the power of the FTC.
An example of this situation occurred on Monday, when a district court dismissed a complaint that sought to undo the acquisitions that Facebook had made of both Instagram and WhatsApp.
In its complaint filed late last year, the FTC alleged that Zuckerberg’s company had violated federal antitrust laws by purchasing a potential competitor in the social media market, but Judge James E. Boasberg based his response on that the Commission had offered insufficient evidence.
That ruling also overturned a parallel antitrust case against Facebook, brought by a coalition of state attorneys general. However, following the judge’s decision, the FTC has until July 29 to file a new complaint regarding Facebook’s market dominance.
