Chairman of the FTC of the United States: In the face of intimidation by technology giants such as Facebook and Amazon, antitrust will never back down

On January 20, lina Khan, the chairwoman of the Us Federal Trade Commission (FTC), reportedly said in an interview with a TV channel that the four major technology giants apple, Google, Meta and Amazon, which are currently under antitrust investigation, have strong resources, but in the face of their threats and intimidation, the FTC will never back down.

Lena said that the FTC does need courage to investigate these giants; and the FTC has to adjust some of its law enforcement work due to limited resources. The FTC is proving that, despite repeated threats from giants, its law enforcement officers are not backing down. Moreover, if we look at the 2010s from history, this is also a lesson that the United States needs to learn from antitrust issues.

Under Lena's leadership, the FTC has taken steps to show its antitrust resolve to U.S. tech giants. The FTC quickly filed a revised lawsuit after the antitrust lawsuit against Meta was dismissed by the court, which was upheld by the court.

The FTC initiated its first antitrust lawsuit against Meta during Lena's predecessor. Meta was chosen as the target of the lawsuit because it had a huge impact on the entire social media industry.

The FTC accused Facebook of that year of using the acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp to stammer potential competitors and create obstacles for future competitors to enter the market. If the FTC ultimately wins an antitrust lawsuit, it will be a wake-up call for the tech industry as a whole to need to be more cautious in future M&A deals.

There are some historic major M&A deals in the U.S., but the FTC said it would impose tougher penalties on deals that suppress competitors through mergers and acquisitions, including requiring prior approval for future M&A transactions in settlement agreements.

Lena herself has faced backlash from companies such as Amazon and Meta. The two companies demanded that Lena herself be recused in the antitrust investigation. The companies pointed out that Lena has conducted antitrust work against technology companies in the past during her work at the Open Markets Institute (the U.S. antitrust group) and the House judiciary committee of Congress, so Lena may have a private bias against both companies.

According to reports, Lena stood out in the U.S. antitrust community because of an article published in the Yale Law School Journal in 2017, "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox." The article argues that in the face of the situation of online stores, it is necessary to give a broader interpretation of the US antitrust law.

Last week, the judge presiding over Meta's antitrust lawsuit confirmed that Lena herself did not need to recuse herself from the voting process for the FTC's lawsuit because she herself did not play a ruling role. Lena agreed.

Lena said antitrust enforcement will only get stricter.

Amid the antitrust storm against tech giants in the United States, Congress is also preparing to amend antitrust laws. While Lena wasn't involved in the specific legislative process, she supported Congress allocating more resources to the FTC and hoped Congress would minimize the obstacles faced by law enforcement officers when launching antitrust lawsuits.

Lena mentioned that due to resource constraints, the FTC must be flexible in its investigation projects. She pointed out that an important reference for the FTC's selection of tasks is to maximize the deterrent effect on monopolies.

She said the FTC would consider which investigative cases some enforcement actions would have a significant impact on the market as a whole. She noted that if the FTC can get a settlement agreement in investigative enforcement, or get a court order, or get a desired outcome in a lawsuit, then the FTC is concerned with which cases affect the mechanics of the industry market as a whole, not just the cases themselves.

Lena said the FTC would also consider which cases had "upstream resource" support for violations before finalizing the investigation project. Some intermediaries and companies may have assisted in monopoly violations, and if they can be identified and stopped at the source, this will also allow the FTC to pool resources and make work more efficient.