Facebook says it is seeking the recusal of FTC chair Lina Khan in the agency's deliberations over a new antitrust case, following a similar move by Amazon
Social-media giant follows Amazon in citing Lina Khan's tech criticisms, congressional work to question her impartiality
Wall Street JournalBrent Kendall
Context & Ripple Effects
Amazon had already made the same challenge, seeking Khan's recusal from Amazon-related FTC matters based on her prior criticism and antitrust work. Facebook's filing turns an individual company objection into a shared procedural line of defense for major FTC targets.
The subsequent Facebook case defined the alleged market as US personal social networking services and recorded that Khan would not recuse herself, putting the recusal dispute alongside the substance of the agency's case.
First-order effects
Facebook places Khan's participation in the FTC's new antitrust deliberations under formal challenge, while the agency must address the request as it advances the case.
Amazon gains a second prominent company using the same impartiality argument against the FTC chair.
Second-order effects
Facebook and Amazon can make chair-recusal arguments a recurring procedural component of their responses to FTC scrutiny, rather than litigating only the agencies' underlying competition claims.
The FTC's refusal to remove Khan in Facebook's matter preserves a chair-led enforcement posture but leaves the agency to defend that posture against challenges from its largest targets.
Third-order effects
If more antitrust defendants adopt this approach, enforcement fights may increasingly test the participation of agency leaders whose scholarship or public records address concentrated technology markets.
A durable pattern of recusal challenges would make regulator background and prior advocacy a more consequential fault line in technology antitrust enforcement, alongside market-definition disputes.
The trend: Technology antitrust targets are turning regulator impartiality into a procedural battleground alongside challenges to the merits of enforcement cases.
$FB seeking recusal of FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan in agency's deliberations on whether to file a new antitrust case against the company, arguing she couldn't be impartial because of her long history of criticizing it and other big-tech firms. @brkend https://www.wsj.com/...
*Facebook Seeks Recusal of FTC Chairwoman in Antitrust Case *Company Questions Lina Khan's Ability to Be Impartial, Citing Her Past Criticisms of Facebook, Big Tech *FTC Considering New Lawsuit Against Facebook After Judge Dismissed Previous Complaint as Insufficient $FB
🚨🚨After Amazon now Facebook is seeking the recusal of Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan in the agency's deliberations on whether to file a new antitrust case against the company https://www.wsj.com/...
Facebook is seeking the recusal of Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan in the agency's deliberations on whether to file a new antitrust case against the company https://www.wsj.com/...
Facebook is seeking the recusal of Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan in the agency's deliberations on whether to file a new antitrust case against the company - latest from @brkend https://www.wsj.com/...