Lina Khan is a legal academic and bureaucrat serving as of 2023 as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Prior to assuming her role in June 2021, Khan was an associate law professor at Columbia University Law School.

Khan is a long-time left-of-center antitrust activist. ¹ She embraces the expansive legal theories of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and sees antitrust litigation as a tool for increasing the power of labor unions and breaking up large corporations. ^{2 3} Previously she worked as legal director at the left-of-center Open Markets Institute. ⁴

Khan has been criticized by former FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson as having a disregard for the rule of law and due process. ⁵ Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC released a critical race theory-influenced equity action plan and established a Chief Diversity Officer position. ⁶

Career

Lina M. Kahn was sworn in as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on June 15, 2021 after her appointment by President Joe Biden. A long-time left-of-center antitrust activist, ⁷ Khan was an associate professor at Columbia University Law School from 2020 to 2021 prior to joining the FTC. ⁸

From 2019 to 2020, Khan was counsel for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law. In this role, she worked on a Congressional antitrust investigation of technology firms Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook. ⁹ Khan has also worked as a legal advisor to Democratic Party FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, ¹⁰ as legal director at the left-of-center Open Markets Institute, ^{11 12} as an open markets program policy analyst at the left-of-center New America, and as a fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. ¹³

As of September 2023, Sarah Miller is Khan’s special advisor. Miller previously ran the left-of-center American Economic Liberties Project. That organization was founded in 2020 with financial assistance from Pierre Omidyar and liberal financier George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. ¹⁴

Policy Positions

As Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan has called for the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) under the guise of promoting fair competition and protecting Americans from deceptive practices. She has also claimed that AI tools facilitate automated discrimination across the United States ¹⁵ and emphasized the importance of diversity for future FTC recruits in a memo to staff following her confirmation by the U.S. Senate. ¹⁶

Under Khan’s leadership, the FTC released a critical race theory-influenced equity action plan and established a Chief Diversity Officer position. FTC’s equity action plan includes equity in consumer protection enforcement, including addressing the concept of alleged algorithmic bias against minority groups. The plan also addresses so-called equity in antitrust enforcement, establishing equity in procurement and contracting, and hiring a Chief Diversity Officer to implement far-left equity principles at the agency. ¹⁷

Criticisms

Lina Khan has been criticized by a former FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson as having a disregard for the rule of law and due process. ¹⁸

Since her confirmation, Khan has enhanced her own authority over the FTC through several 3-2 party-line votes. These votes allowed Khan to approve antitrust subpoenas without agreement from other commissioners. ¹⁹ She has also ignored internal ethics recommendations to recuse herself from cases, asked for all communications related to technology entrepreneur Elon Musk’s acquisition of social networking service Twitter, and opened an investigation into technology firm OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT. ²⁰

In July 2023, Khan claimed that U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attacked FTC career staff as a part of normal Congressional committee hearings, claiming that FTC participation was a targeted campaign of intimidation. ²¹

Khan has also lost several merger challenges since becoming FTC Chair. ²² In response to losses in several technology lawsuits, Khan has filled 71 vacancies that have opened at the FTC since 2021 with like-minded lawyers and bureaucrats. ²³

Personal Information

Lina Khan was born in London, England, on March 3, 1989. She received a B.A. from Williams College in 2010 and a J.D. from Yale University Law School in 2017. ²⁴ She resides in New York City. ²⁵

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3. Sorkin, Andrew Ross, et. al. “A Big Breakup at the Federal Trade Commission.” New York Times. February 15, 2023. Accessed Via Web Archive September 11, 2023. https://archive.ph/bY18H.
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15.  Khan, Lina M. “Lina Khan: We Musts Regulate A.I. Here’s How.” New York Times Guest Essay. May 3, 2023. Accessed September 12, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/03/opinion/ai-lina-khan-ftc-technology.html.
16. “Memorandum.” Federal Trade Commission. September 22, 2021. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1596664/agency_priorities_memo_from_chair_lina_m_khan_9-22-21.pdf.
17. “Senate Commerce Committee Nominee Questionnaire, 117^th Congress. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/AB3EF7E3-1D58-4EB4-9646-3FBB5ADD144F.
18. Wilson, Christine. “Why I’m Resigning as an FTC Commissioner.” Wall Street Journal Opinion. February 14, 2023. Accessed via Web Archive September 10, 2023. https://archive.ph/FUFls.
19. Nylen, Leah. “Lina Khan’s big tech crackdown is drawing blowback. It may succeed anyway.” Politico. September 29, 2021. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/29/lina-khan-war-monopolies-514581.
20.  Yang, Mary. “Republicans attack FTC chair and bit tech critic Lina Khan at House hearing.” The Guardina. July 13, 2023. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/13/lina-khan-hearing-ftc-chair-republican-regulations-meta-google.
21. “Letter to Jim Jordan.” Federal Trade Commission. July 26, 2023. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/letter-to-chairman-jordan-career-staff.pdf.
22. Kang, Cecilia. “F.T.C. Chair Faces Criticism in Congressional Hearing.” New York Times. July 13, 2023. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/technology/ftc-lina-khan-hearing.html.
23. Fisher, Daniel. “As court losses mount, Khan remakes FTC with like-minded hires.” Legal Newsline. July 12, 2023. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://legalnewsline.com/stories/645655208-as-court-losses-mount-khan-remakes-ftc-with-like-minded-hires.
24. “Senate Commerce Committee Nominee Questionnaire, 117^th Congress. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/AB3EF7E3-1D58-4EB4-9646-3FBB5ADD144F.
25. Kolhatkar, Sheelah. “Lina Khan’s Battle to Rein in Big Tech.” The New Yorker. November 29, 2021. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/06/lina-khans-battle-to-rein-in-big-tech.