When President Biden nominated Melissa Holyoak to be the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), industry observers warned that she was too friendly to Big Tech companies, and now it’s clear they were right: It took her less than two months to make it clear that she would block bipartisan efforts to rein in Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon and undo all the economic and social damage they are causing.
Many conservative activists Enraged In announcing Holyoak’s nomination, she said: “Her previous roles, including at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), made it clear that she could not be trusted to protect the economy from Big Tech predations, Chinese encroachment, or other threats facing American companies. CEI has been completely hijacked by Big Tech and is completely Exclude It has stripped governments of their power to hold monopolies accountable and extorted tens of thousands from corporate villains. Google and Facebook instead For continued propaganda against the institutions that protect the American people (including the FTC itself). CEI praised Facebook was facing a scandal over its data protection practices, but at Holyoak’s own behest fought To overturn a class action settlement that Google agreed to in court. CEI is President Trump’s China’s tariff commitmentsand derided the former president’s lawsuit seeking to restore access to Twitter as a “publicity stunt.”
Holyoak continued to maintain friendships with his CEI friends after he left. Chat by email In emails to her about her legal strategy, officials including Director Kent Rathmann described the FTC as “an agency so bad it would be a shame to burn it down.” Somehow, she ended up being appointed as a Big Tech operative dedicated to undermining the very agency she would work for.
Unfortunately for small business and free market advocates, the early signs confirm the worst fears about Holyoak: She picked Christopher Mufferidge as her chief of staff as soon as she was sworn in in March. Mufferidge is an attorney. Trained at George Mason University — Institutions in the pockets of Big Tech, Received millions of dollars in funding from Google instead Because it helped them avoid being held accountable.
Mufarridge himself was a high-paying corporate lawyer at Wilson Sonsini, representing Big Tech. Praise for Google It has acquired companies like DoubleClick, YouTube and Waze, and backed Amazon investment vehicle Anthropic. Avoiding antitrust scrutinyWhile in law school, he Knew disgraced GMU professor Joshua Wright (who, like Holyoak, later served as a fifth-column FTC commissioner); In contrast to Antitrust enforcement agencies ultimately Pushed out GMU’s president was fired amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
This is the type of person Holyoak would turn to, in a position of public trust, sworn to carry out a mission she doesn’t seem to believe in. But things get worse.
Hollyoaks too We hired Douglas Geho. He moved from the staff of Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan on the House Judiciary Committee to serve as counsel, a role in which he was an outspoken critic of the FTC and tried to undermine efforts to hold Big Tech accountable. Douglas El Sanadi (until 2016) was a key figure in Jordan’s committee work, and held Staff Report From the Judicial Affairs Committee It is attacking the FTC and its chairwoman, Lina Khan.
Geho was also elected to the parliament. Staff Training The gift (and all-expenses-paid trip to Silicon Valley) comes from the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank that is affiliated with CEI and actively opposes anti-monopoly policies in Big Tech’s backyard. Like Mufferidge, Gehoe attended At Washington, DC, legal scholars are waging a war against accountability. Georgetown University has Unintended consequences In support of the “Big Tech Antitrust Bill,” Hundreds of thousands of dollars From Meta and Mark Zuckerberg. Scholars confirm Huge amounts of money from big tech companies influence their research and tilt the scale in their favor.
Americans deserve an FTC Commissioner who believes in the FTC’s mission and will work to ensure that businesses of all sizes have a fair chance, that giant corporations don’t monopolize the benefits of a healthy economy, and that Big Tech plays by the rules. Unfortunately, in the case of Melissa Holyoak, it’s looking increasingly likely that won’t be the case. It remains to be seen how much damage she will cause in the months and years to come.
Zeven Havens is policy director at the Bull Moose Project, a 501c4 organization working to advance policies that support a brighter American future. He was previously an American Moment Fellow at the Center for American Renewal.
The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
