The Senate has voted to confirm Jonathan Kanter as head of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.
The partly bipartisan vote — 68 to 29 — may have been because the move puts a big Big Tech critic atop the division and going after Big Tech is definitely a bipartisan exercise in Washington these days.
The President previously named Big Tech consolidation critic Lina Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission. Justice and the FTC divvy up merger antitrust reviews.
Kanter is founding partner of the Kanter Law Group, described as a boutique antitrust firm, which works for antitrust law enforcement. He has also served as an attorney at the FTC‘s Bureau of Competition.
Also: Biden Puts Big Tech Critic Atop Antitrust
In his Kanter Law Group bio, he is described as “a leader in the effort to advocate for antitrust enforcement actions against big tech companies by federal and state authorities.”
The Biden administration has targeted Big Tech companies for serious antitrust scrutiny, including look-backs at acquisitions that may have pre-empted future competitors. ■
