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Lina Maliha Khan (born March 3, 1989) is an American legal scholar who was the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2021 to 2025. She is also an associate professor at Columbia Law School. While a student at Yale Law School, she became known for her work in antitrust and competition law in the United States after publishing the essay "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox". President Joe Biden nominated her to the FTC in March 2021, and after her confirmation she became the youngest FTC chair ever in June 2021.
At Mamaroneck High School, Khan was involved in the student newspaper. After high school, she studied political science at Williams College in Massachusetts. She spent her junior year studying at Exeter College, Oxford through the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford. She was the editor of the Williams College student newspaper and wrote her senior thesis on Hannah Arendt. She graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts.
As a result of her work at the Open Markets Institute, Khan was offered a reporting position at The Wall Street Journal, where she would have covered commodities. During the same period, she was offered admission into Yale Law School. Describing it as "a real 'choose the path' moment", she ultimately chose to enroll at Yale. She was a submissions editor for the Yale Journal on Regulation. She graduated from Yale in 2017 with a Juris Doctor degree.
In the article, Khan argued that the current American antitrust law framework, which focuses on keeping consumer prices down, cannot account for the anticompetitive effects of platform-based business models such as that of Amazon. The title of her piece was a reference to Robert Bork's 1978 book The Antitrust Paradox, which established the consumer-welfare standard that she critiqued. She proposed alternative frameworks for antitrust policy, including "restoring traditional antitrust and competition policy principles or applying common carrier obligations and duties."
For "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox", Khan won the Antitrust Writing Award for "Best Academic Unilateral Conduct Article" in 2018, the Israel H. Peres Prize by Yale Law School, and the Michael Egger Prize from the Yale Law Journal.
Joshua Wright, who served on the FTC from 2013 to 2015, derided Khan's work as "hipster antitrust" and argued it "revealed a profound lack of understanding of the consumer welfare model and the rule of reason framework." Herbert Hovenkamp wrote that Khan's claims were "technically undisciplined, untestable, and even incoherent", and that her work "never explains how a nonmanufacturing retailer such as Amazon could ever recover its investment in below cost pricing by later raising prices, and even disputes that raising prices to higher levels ever needs to be a part of the strategy, thus indicating that it is confusing predation with investment."
Initially planning to clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Khan joined Columbia Law School as an academic fellow, where she pursued research and scholarship on antitrust law and competition policy, especially relating to digital platforms. She published "The Separation of Platforms and Commerce" in the Columbia Law Review, making the case for structural separations that prohibit dominant intermediaries from entering lines of business that place them in direct competition with the businesses dependent on their networks. In July 2020, Khan joined the school's faculty as an associate professor of law.
Khan has described herself as belonging to the New Brandeis movement, a political movement that seeks a revival in antitrust enforcement.
In April 2024, the FTC issued a landmark regulation that banned the enforcement of existing non-compete agreements on employees other than senior executives, and prohibited new non-compete agreements against all categories of employees. The non-compete regulation was struck down in August 2024 by a federal court, which ruled that it was an overreach of statutory authority on the part of the FTC to issue such a regulation and that the regulation was arbitrary and capricious.
Khan has been outspoken about potential perils from business monopolies, and also expanding anti-trust regulation and enforcement,Brown, Marcia "The Next Generation of Law Students Is Obsessed With Lina Khan" Politico, November 6, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2024. among merger filings, of which only two percent receive added scrutiny. Under Khan's leadership, the FTC voted unanimously in 2021 to enforce the right to repair as policy and to consider action against companies that limit the type of repair work that can be done at independent repair shops; has pursued lawsuits against companies to lower drug prices, including for insulin and inhalers; and adopted the "click to cancel" rule in 2024 for consumers to efficiently end subscription services.Godoy, Jody "FTC takes on subscription traps with 'click to cancel' rule" Reuters, October 16, 2024. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
Under Khan, the FTC had a mixed record in its attempts to block mergers and acquisitions. Through the first half of her tenure, the FTC lost multiple high-profile merger challenges resolved in court, including the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger and Meta's acquisition of Within. In December 2023, the FTC won its first major challenge in court by blocking Illumina's acquisition of Grail after a 3-year legal battle. In 2024, the FTC won two major merger challenges in court, blocking Tapestry, Inc.'s attempted acquisition of Capri Holdings in November and Kroger's attempted acquisition of Albertsons in December.
Ken Buck, a Republican, praised Khan's actions, and highlighted the questionable actions of members of Congress in using insider knowledge for stock trading, and noted the disparity between permitting such conduct, and seeking to limit Khan because she "wrote a law review article." "Do You Know How Much It Costs To Buy Congress?': Ken Buck Unloads On Big Tech's Lobbying Efforts , youtube video on Forbes Magazine official channel, Aug 29, 2023. Buck Questions FTC Chair Lina Khan On Combatting Big Tech Youtube video on officialchannel of Rep Buck, July 13, 2023. Matt Gaetz, a Republican, strongly praised Khan's efforts, and noted several egregious offenses by the Ring Doorbell company, and asked Khan to continue investigating them. Similarly, Gaetz noted that Kochava has been selling customer's personal data, and asked Khan to continue investigating, and also to let Congress know what new laws might be needed. 'That's Real Creepy, Isn't It?': Gaetz Questions Lina Khan About Shocking Claims About Data Brokers, Youtube video on official channel of Forbes, July 13, 2023.
Khan was noted by both critics and supporters for her aggressive approach to regulation as FTC chair, invoking novel arguments and pursuing non-traditional cases but also risking more losses in court. Khan and the FTC argued that the increase in agency action resulted in an additional deterrence effect, leading to some businesses dropping attempted mergers and acquisitions. Among others, Lockheed Martin's attempted acquisition of Aerojet, as well as Sanofi's attempted acquisition of Maze Therapeutics, were both withdrawn following FTC scrutiny. Khan and her supporters have pointed to these abandoned deals as enforcement victories outside of a judicial environment. During her tenure, House Republicans accused Khan of bringing weak cases in order to push Congress to expand antitrust enforcement authority. In a 2023 Congressional hearing, Khan denied accusations that she brought cases that she expected to lose but acknowledged risks in her aggressive approach in opposing mergers.
FTC officials have attributed the decline in employee satisfaction under Khan to a lack of a clear strategy on achieving objectives, a lack of knowledge on agency operations, and disrespect and sidelining of career staff. One of Khan's first acts at the FTC, a ban on public speaking for FTC staff, was widely unpopular with employees and retracted in 2022 with an apology. Khan said it was a priority to improve staff morale following the initial Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results during congressional testimony in July, 2023. Improvements in employee satisfaction were measured in 2023, reclaiming over half of its decline in morale since 2021.Birnbaum, Emily; Nylen, Leah "FTC Staff Morale, Satisfaction Rise Under Khan, Survey Shows" Bloomberg, November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
Khan's practices at the FTC have been met with bipartisan praise as well as some criticism. The Wall Street Journal published at least 124 critical pieces of Khan during her antitrust tenure. Ankush Khadori of New York magazine wrote in December 2023 that failed lawsuits against Meta and Microsoft led to reduced morale and high attrition among FTC employees; however, Khan has gained praise for her tactics from members of both the Democratic and Republican parties. In 2024 JD Vance, then a senator from Ohio and current vice president, cited Khan's campaigns against large technology companies as a success for antitrust efforts in the US, beliefs echoed by former Democratic representative David Cicilline, who expressed his confidence that Khan would ultimately prevail against large companies. Former colleague Matt Stoller described Khan as the best chair the FTC has ever had.
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