Biden picks big tech critic Lina Khan as Chair of the US Federal Trade Commission

Khan has been a vocal opponent of big tech's dominance for years, and now has the power to back up her beliefs

US President Joe Biden has selected big tech critic and legal expert Lina Khan as the chair of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Khan was sworn in on Tuesday after the US Senate confirmed her for a seat on the FTC, by a vote of 69-28.

Ms Khan will take over from Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, and her term will expire on 25th September 2024.

"It is a tremendous honor to have been selected by President Biden to lead the Federal Trade Commission," Khan said in a statement.

"I look forward to working with my colleagues to protect the public from corporate abuse. I'm very grateful to Acting Chairwoman Slaughter for her outstanding stewardship of the Commission."

Ms Khan, a Democrat, thanked the Senate for her confirmation.

Khan is 32-years old, and the FTC appointment is only the latest is what has so far been a short but notable career.

She recently served as an associate professor at Columbia Law School, and has also worked as legal director at the Open Markets Institute; legal adviser to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra; and counsel to the US House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.

As FTC chair, Ms Khan is expected to pursue aggressive enforcement of US antitrust and consumer-protection laws, although she will need a majority of the five members to agree to make enforcement decisions. She will join two Democrats - Chopra and Slaughter - who have already sought a more aggressive antitrust agenda.

Ms Khan is also known as one of their most vocal critics of big tech, arguing in favour of aggressively attacking firm's monopolistic practices. She has also supported blocking mergers and potentially breaking up some of largest companies.

At her confirmation hearing in the Senate, Khan told lawmakers that antitrust regulators need to review the influence and control that big tech firms have over digital markets, from online journalism to app stores.

She called out Apple's and Google's dominance in these latter areas, saying some terms - like Apple's claim to 30 per cent of the revenue earned by developers - cannot be justified.

Khan's appointment comes as the Commission is in the middle of a prolonged campaign targetting big tech.

The agency is current suing Facebook for 'illegally maintaining its personal social networking monopoly through a years-long course of anticompetitive conduct'.

Last year, the FTC issued Special Orders to five large technology firms - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft - requiring them to provide information about prior acquisitions not reported to antitrust agencies.

In December last year, the FTC issued orders to nine social media and video streaming services, including Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp, seeking information about how they collect and use users' personal data.