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WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday approved Jonathan Kanter, a corporate lawyer and Big Tech critic, in the highest antitrust role in the country, the latest action in efforts to rein in the power of Silicon Valley giants.
By 68 votes to 29, Mr. Kanter’s leadership of the Justice Department’s antitrust division filled a key position in the Biden administration. The White House has made it clear that it wants to rein in American business consolidation, especially among powerful tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
His approval will go to President Biden for final approval.
Mr. Kanter has battled Google and other tech giants for years, mostly as a lawyer representing competitors like Microsoft, Uber, Yelp and News Corp. The Federal Trade Commission, who rose to fame after writing an article in law school defending an antitrust theory against Amazon.
The two antitrust enforcers will together lead major lawsuits against Google and Facebook.
Given his background representing competing companies, it’s unclear whether Mr. Kanter would be asked to withdraw from the Google lawsuit and other investigations that could create a conflict of interest. Amazon and Facebook have asked Ms. Khan, who has never worked for any company before, to give up on issues that concern them, citing public criticism of the tech giants. The agency said it would not withdraw itself from actions related to companies.
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