Facebook filed a petition Wednesday asking for Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan to recuse herself from the FTC\u2019s antitrust case against the company.
\n \u2026<\/b>
\nFacebook filed a petition Wednesday asking for Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan to recuse herself from the FTC\u2019s antitrust case against the company. The tech giant argued in the petition that Khan\u2019s public statements, in which she suggested Facebook\u2019s conduct constituted an antitrust offense, violated the company\u2019s due process rights. \u201cWhen a new Commissioner has already drawn factual and legal conclusions and deemed the target a lawbreaker, due process requires that individual to recuse herself from related matters when acting in the capacity of an FTC Commissioner,\u201d Facebook argued in the petition. The petition pointed to Khan\u2019s October 2020 interview with The New York Times, in which she characterized Facebook\u2019s acquisition strategy as a \u201cland grab\u201d to \u201clock up the market,\u201d as well as a December 2020 tweet in which Khan described the company\u2019s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram as \u201cpart of broader monopoly maintenance strategy.\u201d \u201cChair Khan\u2019s recusal is necessary in order to protect the fairness and impartiality of the proceedings,\u201d Facebook said. The tech giant also mentioned Khan\u2019s work with the Open Markets Institute, an antitrust think tank. Khan was appointed to head the FTC on June 15. The FTC\u2019s complaint against Facebook, in which the agency alleged the company used anticompetitive tactics to maintain a monopoly in personal social media, was dismissed on June 28, though the agency can amend the complaint and refile. Facebook cited the 1970 case of Cinderella Career and Finishing Schools, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, in which the D.C. Circuit Court dismissed the FTC\u2019s complaint after finding Commissioner Paul Rand Dixon was biased, as precedent for its argument. \u201cThat precedent, as well as the federal ethics rules, compel Chair Khan\u2019s recusal from any decisions regarding the pending antitrust case against Facebook,\u201d the petition argued. Amazon had also petitioned for Khan to recuse herself from cases involving the company in June, pointing to Khan\u2019s public statements suggesting Amazon had violated antitrust law, as well as a paper she wrote during her time at Yale Law School calling for more aggressive antitrust enforcement of Amazon. \u201cThese statements convey to any reasonable observer the clear impression that she has already made up her mind about many material facts relevant to Amazon\u2019s antitrust culpability as well as about the ultimate issue of culpability itself,\u201d Amazon argued in the petition. An FTC spokesperson declined to comment on the situation.<\/p>\n