Sarah Miller is a left-of-center activist serving as of 2023 as a special advisor to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan. ¹ The left-leaning New York Times has said that Miller is a thorn in the side of Silicon Valley, a central figure in raising the profile of antitrust issues, and wants to “break up big everything,” in reference to big business. ²

Prior to joining the FTC, Miller was the executive director of the left-of-center American Economic Liberties Project and a member of the Biden-Harris Transition team. Miller has also worked as deputy director of the Open Markets Institute, as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the Obama administration, and as economic policy director for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. ³

She is married to left-of-center political activist and advisor to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) Faiz Shakir. ^{4 5}

Career

In March 2023, Sarah Miller joined the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as a special advisor to FTC Chair Lina Khan. ⁶ The left-leaning New York Times has identified Miller as a “central” figure in raising the profile of antitrust issues, called her a “thorn” in the side of Silicon Valley, and said that she “wants to break up big everything,” a reference to big businesses. ⁷ Miller has advocated for federal investigations into technology entrepreneur Elon Musk regarding security practices at social networking service Twitter. She has also called for FTC and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) investigations into Musk’s purchase of Twitter. ⁸

Prior to joining the FTC, Miller was the executive director of the left-of-center American Economic Liberties Project. She helped found the organization in 2020 with funding from eBay founder and liberal political donor Pierre Omidyar  ⁹ and the left-of-center Omidyar Network. ¹⁰ While at American Economic Liberties Project, Miller said that bank consolidation led to “a rise in burglary and property crime,” has been shown to depress real estate values, throttles economic development, and worsens income inequality. ¹¹

Miller has called for the breakup of social networking websites Facebook, Twitter, and Google, claiming that they “peddle extremism for profit.” Miller supports the left-of-center concept of “net neutrality,” which led to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory control over the internet during the Obama administration before it was reversed by the Trump administration. In January 2021, she called then-President Donald Trump a “demagogue.” ¹²

In 2013, Miller helped launch the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. ¹³ In 2008, Miller was hired to work as an advisor at the Center for American Progress. ^{14 15} She has also worked as the deputy director of left-of-center Open Markets Institute. ¹⁶

Political Work and Advocacy

Prior to her appointment at the FTC, Sarah Miller was a member of the Biden-Harris Transition team. During the Obama administration, she worked as an advisor to the leadership of the U.S. Department of Treasury. Miller was also the deputy economic policy director for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign and the policy director for former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D)’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign. ¹⁷

Personal Information

Sarah Miller is married to left-of-center political activist Faiz Shakir. Shakir is an advisor to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and the executive director of More Perfect Union. Shakir became the executive director of the left-of-center American Economic Liberties Project after Miller left the position in March 2023 to join the FTC. ^{18 19} Shakir has also worked as the national political director of the left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union and as an advisor for Bernie Sanders’ unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and former U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV). ²⁰

Miller is a graduate of the University of Chicago. ^{21 22}

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2. McCabe, David. “She Wants to Break Up Big Everything.” New York Times. February 11, 2020. Accessed via Web Archive September 10, 2023. https://archive.ph/ZPsWe.
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7. McCabe, David. “She Wants to Break Up Big Everything.” New York Times. February 11, 2020. Accessed via Web Archive September 10, 2023. https://archive.ph/ZPsWe.
8. Goodman, Alana. “FTC Hires Anti-Musk Activist Amid Agency’s Investigation of Twitter.” Washington Free Beacon. March 10, 2023. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/ftc-hires-anti-musk-activist-amid-agencys-investigation-of-twitter/.
9. Goodman, Alana. “FTC Hires Anti-Musk Activist Amid Agency’s Investigation of Twitter.” Washington Free Beacon. March 10, 2023. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/ftc-hires-anti-musk-activist-amid-agencys-investigation-of-twitter/.
10. “She Wants to Break Up Big Everything.” Omidyar Network. Accessed September 12, 2023. https://omidyar.com/news/she-wants-to-break-up-big-everything/.
11. Fisher, Daniel. “As court losses mount, Khan remakes FTC with like-minded hires.” Legal Newsline. July 12, 2023. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://legalnewsline.com/stories/645655208-as-court-losses-mount-khan-remakes-ftc-with-like-minded-hires.
12. Matt Stoller and Sarah Miller. “Donald Trump being banned from social media is a dangerous distraction.” The Guardian. January 11, 2021. Accessed via Web Archive September 11, 2023. https://archive.ph/UTbHu.
13. “Sarah Miller.” Economic Liberties Project. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.economicliberties.us/sarah-miller/.
14. McCabe, David. “She Wants to Break Up Big Everything.” New York Times. February 11, 2020. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/technology/big-tech-antitrust.html.
15. “Economic Liberties Executive Director to Depart for Role at FTC.” American Economic Liberties Project. March 6, 2023. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.economicliberties.us/press-release/economic-liberties-executive-director-to-depart-for-role-at-ftc/.
16. “Sarah Miller.” Economic Liberties Project. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.economicliberties.us/sarah-miller/.
17. “Sarah Miller.” American Economic Liberties Project. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.economicliberties.us/sarah-miller/.
18. “Faiz Shakir.” American Economic Liberties Project. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.economicliberties.us/faiz-shakir/.
19. “Faiz Shakir.” Center for American Progress. June 24, 2011. Accessed via Web Archive September 11, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20110624134741/http:/www.americanprogress.org/experts/ShakirFaiz.html.
20. “Faiz Shakir.” American Civil Liberties Union. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.aclu.org/bio/faiz-shakir.
21. “Sarah Miller.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed September 10, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-miller-051114164/.
22. “Sarah Miller.” American Economic Liberties Project. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.economicliberties.us/sarah-miller/.