President-elect Trump has nominated Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Andrew Ferguson to be the next head of the independent agency.
In a statement Tuesday night, Trump emphasized Ferguson's hardline approach to protecting free speech and what the president-elect described as Big Tech's “censorship” of certain views.
President Trump: “Andrew has a track record of standing up to Big Tech censorship and protecting our nation's free speech.'' I wrote it on Truth Social. “Andrew will be the most America-first, pro-innovation FTC Chairman in our nation's history.”
Ferguson will succeed current FTC Chair Lina Khan, who led the Biden administration's aggressive antitrust policy push. Her approach drew scrutiny from Wall Street and Silicon Valley for blocking mergers she deemed anticompetitive and pursuing giant companies for alleged anticompetitive conduct.
The president-elect noted that Ferguson, who most recently served as Virginia's attorney general, practiced antitrust litigation at various law firms in Washington. He is also a former chief adviser to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
It remains to be seen whether he will take a lighter approach to antitrust enforcement, but his experience suggests he may continue the scrutiny that big tech companies have faced over the past four years. .
in This month's statementMr Ferguson called for prosecuting “unlawful collusion” between online platforms that could restrict speech.
“We must vigorously enforce our antitrust laws against platforms that are found to be unlawfully restricting Americans' ability to freely and openly exchange ideas,” Ferguson said.
Mr. Ferguson was appointed by President Biden and became a commissioner in April of last year. His nomination was put on hold by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) earlier this year.
Including Ferguson, the FTC's five commissioners currently consist of three Democrats and two Republicans. No more than three committee members can belong to the same political party at the same time.
Because Ferguson already serves on the FTC commission, he could be sworn in as FTC chairman on Inauguration Day next month.
President Trump announced Tuesday that he has selected Mark Meador, a partner at an antitrust law firm, to serve as FTC commissioner.
Mr. Meador previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel for Antitrust and Competition Policy to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.
