Trump picks Andrew Ferguson to chair FTC

By Jody Godoy

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson to lead the consumer protection and antitrust agency, Trump said on social media on Tuesday.

Ferguson, one of two Senate-confirmed Republican FTC commissioners appointed by President Joe Biden, will be “the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History,” Trump said.

“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump said in a separate post that he would nominate Mark Meador, a partner at law firm Kressin Meador Powers and former antitrust counsel to Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee, to become an FTC commissioner.

Lee previously proposed legislation that would remove federal antitrust authority from the FTC, which shares it with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Once confirmed, Meador would fill the spot currently occupied by FTC Chair Lina Khan, whose term on the commission has expired.

Ferguson, Virginia’s former solicitor general, wants the FTC to investigate censorship of conservative viewpoints online. If social media platforms collaborate to suppress such views or advertisers coordinate pulling business from platforms such as Elon Musk’s X, they should be charged with violating U.S. antitrust law, Ferguson has said.

“We must vigorously enforce the antitrust laws against any platforms found to be unlawfully limiting Americans’ ability to exchange ideas freely and openly,” Ferguson said in a recent statement.

Ferguson previously served as counsel to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The agency became a political flashpoint under Khan, who promoted antitrust enforcement as a check on corporate power. Her efforts won fans among some Republicans, including incoming Vice President JD Vance, but drew criticism as overly aggressive from some antitrust lawyers and business groups.

Ferguson would inherit a full slate of cases against Big Tech companies, a lawsuit against the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, and at least a half-dozen lawsuits by companies arguing the FTC has outstripped its authority.

It is unclear whether he would continue with unfinished probes, including into practices at Microsoft (NASDAQ:) that competitors have complained keep customers from switching to other cloud service providers, and potential privacy concerns involving OpenAI.

In other enforcement matters related to AI and privacy, Ferguson has said he believes Khan and the FTC’s Democratic majority have sometimes led the agency to overstep its authority.

A Republican-led FTC could also shift course in two major cases against Amazon.com (NASDAQ:). One targets tactics the agency says keep sellers bound to its platform and help Amazon unlawfully dominate the landscape for online marketplaces, and another over practices allegedly meant to trick Prime subscribers out of cancelling service.

Ferguson would also oversee a case brought against Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), then known as Facebook, in 2020, during Trump’s first term. 

The agency is seeking to unwind the tech company’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. But the judge overseeing the case has cast doubt on whether the agency can prevail at trial in April.

Trump said last week that he would appoint Vance adviser Gail Slater to lead the DOJ’s antitrust division, which is overseeing cases against Google (NASDAQ:).