President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he would be nominating Andrew Ferguson as head of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Ferguson would replace Lina Khan, a regulator who fought for consumer rights and pushed back hard against monopolists. And there’s every indication that Ferguson plans to undo much of what Khan accomplished, even as some particularly credulous commentators insist he’ll fight against potential abuses by Big Tech.
“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social. “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.”
Ferguson is one of the two Republican FTC commissioners appointed by Joe Biden on the five-person committee. No more than three of the Senate-approved commissioners can come from the same political party.
Under Khan’s leadership the FTC has taken bold steps on several fronts, banning non-compete clauses, going after companies like Google and Amazon for being anti-competitive, and releasing important reports on topics like mass surveillance by Big Tech, just to name a few. But Ferguson hopes to undo so much of that.
As Techdirt notes, Ferguson released a one-page document last week that “made it clear he was sucking up to Trump by talking about all the powers the FTC had to go after his culture war enemies for their speech.” The document characterized Khan’s time at the FTC as part of a “woke” agenda and laid out things that he’d accomplished to hurt the Biden administration.
“Commissioner Ferguson is the America First, pro-innovation choice for Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission,” the document begins. “Ferguson has impeccable legal credentials, proven loyalty to President Donald Trump, and a track record of standing up to Big Tech Censorship, DEI-wokeism, and the anti-business, anti-innovation agenda of the radical left. President Trump can designate Ferguson as Chairman of the FTC on Day 1 of the Trump Administration—no Senate confirmation is needed for sitting FTC Commissioners to become Chairman, and his term does not expire until 2030.”
That’s obviously quite a way to lead your sales pitch on Ferguson as head of the FTC. But it doesn’t stop there. Line by line, it ticks through the ways that Ferguson would reverse Khan’s legacy at the FTC, characterizing it as an “anti-business agenda.” The document promises to stop Lina Khan’s “war on mergers” and yet stop mergers in the world of Big Tech.
And it’s that last part that so many commentators have jumped on to insist that Ferguson would actually be tough on Silicon Valley in a way that fights for the little guy. But the more you read, it’s clear Ferguson’s agenda isn’t actually about helping the average consumer. His goal is to fight against anything conservatives don’t like, including DEI, campaigns against hate speech, and racial bias in algorithms. The document also calls out “advertiser boycotts,” which is a hobbyhorse of Elon Musk. The billionaire helped Donald Trump get elected in November by throwing over a quarter of a billion dollars at Trump and the Republicans, and he insists it should essentially be illegal for private companies to stop advertising with companies that don’t align with their values. That’s important to Musk because his social media platform X has seen plenty of controversy since he bought the company in late 2022.
Obviously nobody can predict the future. But if you take a look at Ferguson’s one-page pitch to Trump for his position, it’s filled with the same MAGA-world grievances that animate the modern right. Trump has blasted Big Tech for being unfair to him, and it seems very likely that Ferguson will go after the titans of Silicon Valley but not for any reason that may align with Khan’s more progressive worldview.
The second term of Donald J. Trump is poised to be one of the most sadistic in history. And with Ferguson ready to take the helm at the FTC, don’t get your hopes up for anything good to happen as he launches his war on “woke” while allowing big business to get even bigger at the expense of competition.
You can read the full Ferguson document below:
