{"id":2410805,"date":"2025-03-07T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/on-big-tech-issues-trump-ftc-much-like-the-biden-version-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T01:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T06:06:19","slug":"on-big-tech-issues-trump-ftc-much-like-the-biden-version-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/on-big-tech-issues-trump-ftc-much-like-the-biden-version-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"On Big Tech issues, Trump FTC much like the Biden version &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fon-big-tech-issues-trump-ftc-much-like-the-biden-version-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2410805&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under President Donald Trump&#8217;s management, notably focusing \u200don the nomination of \u2064Mark Meador\u2062 to the\u2062 FTC and its \u2063implications for antitrust regulation and \u2063consumer protection.\u200d As Meador&#8217;s confirmation progresses in the Senate,it&#8217;s \u2064anticipated that the commission will maintain\u200b a policy agenda similar to that of the previous Biden administration,especially regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-level-republicans-push-back-on-big-tech\/\" title=\"State...Level Republicans Push Back on ...\">major tech companies<\/a>. Traditionally,\u200d the\u2063 FTC\u200c has operated in a bipartisan manner, but recent political \u2063shifts have led\u2064 to a more aggressive stance towards significant \u200bfirms like Meta, microsoft, and Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200b article highlights that while\u200b some Democratic commissioners will continue pressing for \u200dstringent regulations \u2062on big tech,\u2064 Republican\u200d members,\u200c driven\u2062 by meador and others, are likely to echo similar \u2064concerns regarding \u200bmarket power and \u200dregulatory\u2064 intervention, reflecting a \u200dpossible shift from \u2064past Republican ideologies that favored less government involvement. The\u200b FTC&#8217;s approach to content moderation and merger guidelines is also analyzed,\u200b indicating a continued \u200cfocus on scrutinizing big tech&#8217;s practices and maintaining the heightened regulations initiated during the Biden era.\u200c the piece emphasizes the FTC&#8217;s \u200ccrucial\u2062 role\u2063 in navigating the complexities of modern \u200bantitrust issues in a politically charged environment.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">On Big Tech issues, Trump FTC much like the Biden version<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1924698\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">President Donald Trump&rsquo;s<\/a> Federal Trade Commission nominee, Mark Meador, is moving swiftly through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/senate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Senate<\/a> confirmation process. That doesn&rsquo;t mean the consumer protection agency, with a soon-to-be Republican majority, will diverge significantly its policy agenda from former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">President Joe Biden&rsquo;s<\/a> four-year White House tenure.<\/p>\n<p>The FTC, often referred to as the nation&rsquo;s &ldquo;top consumer protection cop,&rdquo; consists of a Bureau of Consumer Protection and a Bureau of Competition, focused on antitrust regulation. The work of both of these bureaus is overseen by five commissioners, each nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Each has seven-year, staggered, terms, and with the chairman elevated by the president.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3335183\/what-we-can-learn-about-ai-from-jewish-myth\/\">What we can learn about AI from Jewish myth<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3337639\/lent-in-moderation-rob-long\/\">Lent in moderation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3335554\/return-of-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie\/\">The return of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>With the recent departure of former Biden-appointed Chairwoman Lina Khan, the FTC has been operating with a partisan deadlock. Meador&rsquo;s confirmation would make it whole and give the Trump administration its party majority at the agency.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mark Meador, Federal Trade Commission nominee, speaks at a hearing at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 25. (Michael Brochstein\/Sipa USA via Newscom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Historically, the agency has been largely bipartisan, but Biden&rsquo;s FTC was far more aggressive and extreme in both its policies and process. This lurch to the political left dovetailed with an increasingly populist Republican Party on issues such as reining in the power of so-called &ldquo;Big Tech.&rdquo; The FTC currently has multiple cases or investigations pending against leading U.S. tech companies, including Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s fair to expect continued support for cracking down on tech companies and other large businesses from hold-over Democratic Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. However, the other commissioners&rsquo; policy positions are more difficult to predict.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming Meador is confirmed, as is expected, all the Republican commissioners have been vocal about their concerns about the behavior of major tech firms.<\/p>\n<p>Meador, while a staffer for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), told an antitrust conference in 2023 that the antitrust world was in a &ldquo;paradigm shift among Republicans and conservatives concerning the proper role and use of government power&rdquo; and that &ldquo;concentrated economic power is just as dangerous as concentrated political power.&rdquo; He added that &ldquo;at the root of this approach is a rejection of libertarianism,&rdquo; signaling opposition to a laissez-faire approach concerning regulation once embraced by most of the Republican Party, but now in question with the rise of a more interventionist, populist approach on the political right.<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-new-acting-attorney-general-jeff-rosen-recently-wrote-an-essay-on-foreign-influence-in-us-elections-this-tells-us-a-little-about-his-knowledge-of-whats-going-on-today\/\" title=\"The New Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen Recently Wrote an Essay on Foreign Influence in US Elections \u2013 This Tells Us A Little About His Knowledge of What\u2019s Going On Today\">social media platform<\/a> X, Republican Commissioner Melissa Holyoak wrote, in praise of the FTC&rsquo;s call for public comments on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/facebooks-oversight-board-says-company-lied-about-whitelist\/\" title=\"Facebook\u2019s Oversight Board Says Company Lied About Whitelist\">content moderation issues<\/a>, that &ldquo;Big tech censorship is one of the most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-candidates-discuss-china-threats-in-first-presidential-debate\/\" title=\"GOP Candidates Address China Threats in First Debate\">consequential issues facing<\/a> our nation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump-appointed FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson announced the agency&rsquo;s call for public input by posting that &ldquo;Big Tech censorship is not just un-American; it is potentially illegal.&rdquo; He also asked for &ldquo;public submissions from anyone who has been a victim of tech censorship (banning, demonization, shadow banning, etc.).&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The legal validity of the FTC&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">labeling major platform content moderation decisions<\/a> as &ldquo;censorship&rdquo; is legally specious. Just last year, the Supreme Court upheld the free speech rights of platforms not to carry any speech they do not wish to carry, writing that the First Amendment &ldquo;does not go on leave when social media are involved,&rdquo; highlighting that third-party posters cannot be &ldquo;censored&rdquo; on the private property of platforms. But the new FTC&rsquo;s framing of the issue signals a continued hard line on America&rsquo;s tech companies.<\/p>\n<p>In another show of policy continuity, Ferguson recently announced that the agency would be keeping the merger guidelines as updated during the Biden administration. Merger guidelines are nonbinding but seek to impart to the business community what might raise red flags at the agency and, ideally, reflect the current state of antitrust law.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3220424\/how-democrats-can-adjust-to-avoid-future-defeats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>DEMOCRATS WEIGH CHANGE IN STRATEGY TO AVOID MIDTERM AND 2028 DEFEATS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Conservative critics decried the Biden-era version as not reflecting current antitrust practice in the courts and ignoring 40 years of economic learning in the antitrust field. Former FTC general counsel Alden Abbott wrote at the time of its final release that &ldquo;the guidelines ignore the immense changes in U.S. antitrust case law over the last four decades, reflecting an economics-based appreciation for the role of business arrangements in advancing efficiency and consumer welfare&rdquo; while generally comparing the updated version to a lipsticked pig and calling for its withdrawal in a post on a law and economics blog.<\/p>\n<p>Advocates of traditional conservative &ldquo;light-touch&rdquo; antitrust regulation had hoped for a return to the previous guidelines, signaling an FTC more open to deferring to market forces and less inclined to government intervention. The guidelines do not bind the commissioners to any particular decisions, but they do leave the door open to continued heightened regulatory scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1924698\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1924698\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump&#8217;s FTC nominee, Mark Meador, may not change Biden&#8217;s policies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2694,"featured_media":2410806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WB.WhiteHouse1.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3620,23092,6945,3634,32076],"class_list":["post-2410805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-biden","tag-big-tech","tag-ftc","tag-trump","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/WB.WhiteHouse1.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2410805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2410805"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2410805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2410809,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2410805\/revisions\/2410809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2410806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2410805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2410805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2410805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}