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
Brent Kendall / Wall Street Journal :
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook followed Amazon's earlier request to exclude Lina Khan from Amazon matters, turning a company-specific objection into a shared challenge to the FTC chair's participation in major-tech antitrust deliberations. The dispute matters because Facebook's prospective case was approaching a consequential procedural decision.
The subsequent Facebook case proceeded with Khan remaining involved as the FTC alleged a personal-social-networking monopoly, placing the recusal fight within the agency's broader effort to test Khan's antitrust approach.
First-order effects
- Facebook asks the FTC to remove Khan from deliberations over its new antitrust matter, adding a procedural challenge alongside the merits of the agency's case.
- Amazon's prior recusal request gains a direct counterpart from Facebook, concentrating scrutiny on Khan's role across the FTC's largest technology-company matters.
Second-order effects
- The FTC must defend the integrity of its decision-making process while pursuing Facebook, rather than treating the agency's chairmanship as separate from the litigation path.
- Amazon and Facebook's aligned objections give their antitrust defenses a common procedural theme: challenge the decision-maker's participation as well as the allegations.
Third-order effects
- If prominent targets repeatedly contest a regulator's leadership at the outset of enforcement, antitrust cases become contests over agency process as well as market power.
- Khan's approach is being tested not only through suits against large platforms but through the institutional authority the FTC can retain while bringing them.
The trend: Big Tech antitrust fights are expanding into challenges over who within the FTC may direct enforcement against the companies.