January 20, 2022

Photo: Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Good morning! This Thursday, Lina Khan laid out her vision for how antitrust enforcement needs to change. I’m Issie Lapowsky, and I need tips for using Peloton without injuring my lower back.
Lina Khan fired a warning shot at corporate giants yesterday in her first televised interview since becoming chair of the FTC last year.
“These are enormously well resourced companies. They are not shy about deploying those resources. And I think in these moments, it's important to ensure we're really showing these companies, but also showing the country, that enforcers are not going to back down,” Khan said.
Over the course of a lengthy CNBC interview, Khan articulated perhaps the clearest vision yet of how she believes antitrust enforcement in America needs to change.
That process of change is already underway at the FTC. This week, Khan and Jonathan Kanter announced a plan to review policies related to mergers.
And there’s more to antitrust than pricing. Antitrust law, she said (and has often said), has tended to focus too much on whether companies are using their market power to raise prices on consumers. But there are lots of other kinds of harm, Khan argued.
But Khan also has a problem: Even as this new approach potentially broadens the scope of enforcement actions the FTC could take, Khan noted that the commission is “severely under-resourced.” That means that the FTC will continue to have to prioritize certain cases over others.
Still, the FTC isn’t in this alone. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to mark up two of its marquee antitrust bills today.
Khan said during the interview that she was encouraged by the steps Congress is taking. “I think it's especially great to see how there's so much bipartisan interest and concern,” she said. “I think that really speaks to the degree to which there's a growing recognition that there's just a deep problem.”
— Issie Lapowsky (email | twitter)
This story first appeared on Protocol.com. Read it here.
How to build the metaverse, and build it right
The metaverse is ... well, we’re not exactly sure what it is yet. But no matter what it is, it’s clear that much of tech’s energy, brainpower and money are going toward building it.
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Emerging technologies and changing needs of consumers and commercial organizations are creating significant challenges and opportunities for all enterprises. These challenges and opportunities will require companies to act quickly, creatively and with an appetite and a push for rapid adoption of new technologies.
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Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to sourcecode@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day, see you tomorrow.
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