In a 25-page filing, e-commerce giant Amazon is asking that Leena Khan, the newly appointed head of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a staunch Big Tech critic, step down from the company’s anti-trust investigation.
Amazon says it’s impossible for Khan to be fair given the company’s past criticism.
“The Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” is one of Khan’s most influential letters, when she was a law student at Yale University.
Amazon’s letter, which follows in the opening paragraph, reads: “Amazon.com, Inc. respectfully petitions the Commission to remove Chairman Leena Khan from any antitrust investigation, adjudication, litigation, or other proceeding in which Amazon is a subject, target or respondent for which Chairman Khan’s prior public statements appear to have predetermined facts and/or legal issues relating to the proceedings.”
Amazon is pushing back on the grounds that Khan has made up his mind about several “material facts” on the company’s “guilty”.
The letter reads: “Chair Khan has made several and highly detailed public announcements regarding Amazon, including its definition of the market, the specific conduct and harm principle, and the purpose, impact and legality of such conduct. Indeed , he has argued on several occasions that Amazon is guilty of a breach of antitrust and should be struck down. These statements give the clear impression to any reasonable observer that he has already pleaded guilty to antitrust of Amazon as well as of culpability. Have made up their mind about a number of material facts relevant to the last issue.
Khan began his term in mid-June as the President Joe Biden administration’s top federal regulator overseeing industry competition, consumer protection and digital privacy, at a time when hostility to Big Tech’s market dominance at home and abroad. I am speeding up.
At 32 years old, Khan is the youngest chairman in FTC history. His term is till 25 September 2024.
Khan was sworn in after the Senate confirmed him by a vote of 69-28.
He is one of three FTC Democratic commissioners. In 2019 and 2020, as counsel for the US House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, Khan played a key role in a landmark bipartisan investigation into the market power of US tech giants.
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