Observed Signal · Apr 4, 2026 · Interview · Source: Paul Krugman · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Paul Krugman Interviews Lina Khan on Antitrust
Paul Krugman interviewed Lina Khan at the CUNY Graduate Center about her intellectual path in antitrust, her 2017 paper on Amazon, her tenure as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (June 2021–January 2025), and her role co-chairing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s transition in New York. Khan described FTC priorities while she led the agency—reinvigorating antitrust and consumer-protection enforcement, tackling non-competes, addressing healthcare consolidation and pharmacy middlemen, protecting sensitive data, and using existing legal authorities. She discussed policy options for New York City’s affordability agenda (taking on extractive intermediaries, public grocery pilots, public options like childcare, and regulatory levers such as rent guidelines). Khan emphasized mining existing laws and administrative tools rather than waiting for new legislation.
Comments from a former FTC chair about platform market power, enforcement priorities (non-competes, healthcare consolidation, data protection), and municipal policy responses signal regulatory and policy risks that affect platform business models and market structure relevant to advertising and digital platforms.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Lina Khan served as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission from June 2021 until January 2025.
- Her 2017 Yale Law Journal article, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” influenced debate on platform market power and enforcement blind spots.
- At the FTC, Khan prioritized reinvigorating antitrust and consumer protection enforcement, actions on non-competes, healthcare consolidation, and data-protection issues.
- Khan co-chaired Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral transition team and helped craft an affordability agenda including public grocery pilots, tenant/rental hearings, and measures targeting extractive middlemen (e.g., delivery platforms).
- The FTC under Khan pursued high-profile actions (e.g., litigation related to Martin Shkreli, hospital merger challenges) and issued a proposed rule aimed at largely eliminating most non-competes.
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Lina Khan on AI, Competition, and Consumer Protection
Former FTC Chair Lina Khan discusses AI, competition, and recent local consumer-protection moves in a wide-ranging interview with Paul Krugman. Khan describes New York City actions — a final “Click to Cancel” rule and a proposed rule on junk fees — intended to reduce subscription friction and hidden fees. She outlines FTC-era concerns about concentration across the AI supply chain (chips, hyperscalers, cloud, models, apps), mentions specific gatekeepers such as Nvidia and major cloud providers, and warns about conflicts of interest from vertical integration and investments (e.g., Microsoft–OpenAI). Khan also highlights consumer harms (voice-cloning fraud, data use for model training) and publisher revenue loss from AI summarization. She advocates for competition-preserving policies, in-house public tech capacity, and vigilance about capture by large incumbents.
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