Outgoing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan suggested Tuesday that Meta and other companies facing antitrust lawsuits from the agency might be looking for “sweetheart deals” from the incoming Trump administration.
“It is true that the FTC has been very successful, including in its ongoing litigations against Amazon and Facebook. And so, it’s only going to be natural that those companies are going to want to come in and see, can they get some type of sweetheart deal,” Khan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“Can they get some type of settlement that’s cheap, that settles for pennies on the dollar and lets them escape from a liability finding in court?” she continued.
The FTC filed suit against Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, in 2020 during President-elect Trump’s first administration. The agency accused the tech giant of maintaining an illegal monopoly over personal social networking with its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The antitrust case is set to go to trial in April, after a federal judge denied Meta’s request for summary judgement.
“Of course they would want a sweetheart deal, and I hope future enforcers wouldn’t give them that,” Khan added.
The FTC chair’s comments came in the wake of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement Tuesday that his company plans to make major changes to its content moderation policies, including eliminating its fact-checking program.
Meta will instead move to a community-based program called “Community Notes,” relying on users to send in notes or corrections on posts that are potentially misleading or require more context.
It will also alter its policies on issues like gender and immigration, and the company plans to move its trust and safety and content moderation teams from California to Texas.
Zuckerberg, who appears keen on courting President-elect Trump as he prepares to take office later this month, said the changes were driven by November’s election.
“The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech,” he said in a video posted Tuesday morning. “So we’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”
The Meta CEO met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November, and his social media company donated $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund.
Zuckerberg also announced Monday that Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO and President Dana White, a longtime friend and supporter of Trump, would be joining Meta’s board of directors.
