Biden appoints Lina Khan as FTC chair signaling aggressive antitrust era

President Biden appoints Lina Khan as chair of the Federal Trade Commission the same day she is confirmed as a commissioner by the Senate, making her the youngest FTC chair in the agency's history at 32. Khan, a former Columbia Law professor who rose to prominence with a 2017 Yale Law Journal article arguing Amazon's market power poses antitrust threats not captured by existing consumer-harm frameworks, represents a sharp break from four decades of permissive merger policy. Under Khan, the FTC challenges mergers by Meta, Microsoft, and Kroger/Albertsons, and issues new merger guidelines. Trump removes her on his first day back in office in January 2025.