U.S. FTC's Lina Khan confirmation hearing set for next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a confirmation hearing next week for Lina Khan, who has advocated the breakup of tech giants, on her nomination to the Federal Trade Commission, the panel said in a statement on Thursday.

Khan, who teaches at Columbia Law School, is highly respected by progressive antitrust thinkers, who have risen in prominence as they push for tougher antitrust laws or tougher enforcement of existing law.

She has argued, including in a 2019 article in the Columbia Law Review, that the government should consider breaking up tech companies which both operate a dominant platform, like Amazon, and participate in that market.

Khan can expect tough questions from Senator Mike Lee, who is on the Commerce Committee and is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel. When word of her coming nomination leaked last month, Lee called the reports "deeply concerning" and said that "her views on antitrust enforcement are also wildly out of step with a prudent approach to the law."

The FTC works with the Justice Department to enforce antitrust law and investigates allegations of deceptive advertising.

Khan was on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, which wrote a massive report last year that sharply criticized the major tech companies, Amazon Inc, Apple Inc, Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc.

Her nomination was sharply criticized by NetChoice, whose members include Facebook and Google.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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