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Lina Maliha Khan, born on March 3, 1989, in London, United Kingdom, to Pakistani immigrant parents, is a British-American legal scholar and a leading expert in antitrust law. She is the current Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a prominent figure in modern antitrust enforcement. Khan moved to the United States at age 11, growing up in Miami, Florida. She gained national recognition with her 2017 Yale Law Journal article "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox," which challenged traditional antitrust frameworks and argued for a broader approach to addressing monopolies in the tech sector. This work established her as a key voice in progressive antitrust reform and influenced policy debates on corporate power.
In 2021, at age 32, President Joe Biden appointed Khan as Chair of the FTC, making her one of the youngest to lead the agency. During her tenure, she has advocated for aggressive enforcement against major technology companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta, and Apple, focusing on issues like app store practices and market dominance. Her leadership emphasizes consumer protection, rigorous merger reviews, and challenging non-competition agreements, marking a shift toward a more interventionist FTC aimed at curbing monopolistic practices in the digital economy. While her approach has faced criticism from business groups for perceived overreach, it has solidified her role as a transformative figure in antitrust regulation.
In addition to her government service, Khan is an associate professor at Columbia Law School, where she teaches and researches antitrust law and economic policy. Her scholarship and policy work continue to shape discussions on regulating influential technology giants and promoting fair competition, establishing her as a leading authority within legal, academic, and policy circles.