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US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick as the next chair of the country’s antitrust watchdog is an advocate of clamping down on online censorship of conservative viewpoints.
Andrew Ferguson was already a Federal Trade Commissioner but will now head the organization, replacing Lina Khan, under whose guidance the FTC opened a huge number of cases against Big Tech giants, including Amazon and Meta.
Though Khan has drawn the ire of businesses, she has been publicly praised by several prominent Republicans, including Trump’s running mate, JD Vance.
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Ferguson has something in common with Khan: They both want to crack down on Big Tech, Semafor’s Principals newsletter reported.
However, Ferguson, who is one of two existing GOP commissioners on the FTC and will not need to be confirmed by the Senate, comes at the issue from a different direction and will likely look to crack down on tech companies that conservatives accuse of stifling political speech.
“The Commission must use the full extent of its authority to protect the free speech of all Americans,” he wrote in a statement earlier this month.
In addition to elevating Ferguson, a former chief counsel for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump also selected Mark Meador, a former aide to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to be confirmed as the third Republican on the FTC.