In just a few months, Lina Khan, 35, has become a central figure in American politics. A “star” asked for selfies – unheard of at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the American competition “policeman”. A frail silhouette corrected by a confident voice, she revolutionized the fight against monopolies by imposing a new reading of antitrust legislation in the United States, adapted to the digital age.
A major critic of the anti-competitive practices of Gafam (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft), Mme Khan has chaired the FTC since 2021. These days, she’s a guest everywhere. On September 20, she spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations – a first for a think tank specializing in world affairs. On September 26, she participated in the show of the very provocative Hasan Minhaj, on YouTube. The host staged a – hilarious – rivalry between the young lawyer and the august Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, around the privilege of suing – and dismantling – Google. “It didn’t quite happen like that”patiently corrected the person concerned.
In “60 Minutes” (CBS), one of the most respected shows on American television, Mme Khan scored points on September 22 by presenting an inhaler, one of those asthma devices sold for less than 10 dollars (less than 9.20 euros) in Europe but several hundred dollars in the United States. Under his leadership, the FTC showed that manufacturers continued to abuse their patents – even though the device was invented in the 1950s – which allowed them to block generic competition. In June, three manufacturers agreed to lower their prices to $35. “It is disturbing to think that pharmaceutical companies have been able to get away with inflating the cost of these essential medicines for so long.”underlined the manager.
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At each appearance, the young woman attacks with pedagogy. She explains the mission of the FTC, the agency created in 1914 to strengthen the fight against the monopolies of the steel, oil and railroad barons. Having an uninformed opinion of the structure of the economy, she describes a consolidation that has become harmful in certain sectors such as food, aviation, telecommunications or the pharmaceutical industry. Consumers are at the mercy of shortages, such as in 2022 in the case of baby milk, due to“a single contamination in a single factory”she says, and frustrated by the low number of Internet service providers and their high prices – “the system is biased [“rigged”] to their detriment”. For her, concentration is the main reason for maintaining high prices after the Covid-19 pandemic. A phenomenon that progressives call greedflationinflation caused by the appetite of conglomerates.
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