McSweeny Wants American Consumer ‘Champion,’ Lamenting Power of 'Tech Titans'
As the Trump administration “dismantles” various consumer protections in a new era of monopolies, outgoing FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny called Wednesday for increased support for American consumers. McSweeny, a former domestic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, lamented what…
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she perceives as the administration’s scaling back of consumer choice on sensitive data, rolling back of net neutrality rules and freezing of programs meant to aid defrauded students with their loans. The "administration is brazenly dismantling basic consumer protections that are vital to the economic well-being of American families -- all to favor a small number of dominant companies,” she wrote in The Hill. She said a new antitrust movement is growing, “reminiscent of trust-busting during the Progressive Era or the anti-monopoly movement of the New Deal.” Anti-monopoly champions are taking aim at the political and economic powers propelling inequality and monopolization of online commerce by "tech titans," she wrote. An FTC nomination hearing Wednesday also keyed into this issue (see 1802150035).