| Programming note: The Technology 202 will not publish next week. Have a relaxing and safe July Fourth, and we'll be back in your inbox on Monday, July 12. Lina Khan's early moves as Federal Trade Commission chair signal that a new era of tougher antitrust enforcement has arrived. At the first open commission meeting in decades, Khan and Democratic commissioners rescinded an Obama-era policy that limited what antitrust cases the FTC could pursue. Democrats say this is just the beginning of strengthening the commission's work on anticompetitive behavior, and in the coming months, they may issue new rules or policies to clarify what kind of misconduct it might scrutinize. Introducing the motion, Khan said the policy contributed to the agency's "long-standing failure to investigate and pursue unfair methods of competition."  Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, speaks during a hearing. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner/Bloomberg) | In other party-line votes, commissioners moved to streamline their investigations into key industries, including tech. They also removed some barriers to developing regulations, setting the stage for it to better address consumer fraud. Just over two weeks into her role as commissioner, Khan faces multiple challenges. After years of closed meetings, yesterday's virtual gathering was an opportunity for Khan to show how her heavily watched tenure might depart from FTC tradition. In her opening remarks, she sought to emphasize her commitment to transparency and ensuring the agency lives up to its mission. But the meeting came following a tough week. A federal judge on Monday threw out the agency's antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, forcing the FTC to revisit a high-profile case brought under the Trump administration. The judge said the FTC did not provide enough evidence to show that Facebook has a monopoly, and gave the agency 30 days to refile. And on Wednesday, Amazon requested that Khan recuse herself from all antitrust matters related to the company, as my colleagues Jay Greene and Rachel Lerman reported. Khan is a long-running critic of the company, but she noted in her confirmation hearing before the Senate that she had "none of the financial conflicts or personal ties that are the basis of recusal under federal ethics laws." (Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Partisan fireworks at the meeting were a harbinger of yet another challenge facing Khan Republican commissioners — Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson — repeatedly attacked the lack of notice for the meeting and warned that the moves would result in less clarity for businesses and consumers about the agency's work. Phillips criticized the lack of public comment for the vote related to competition cases, saying it was resulting in the "opposite" of transparency that the meeting was intended to provide. And industry groups also went on the offensive. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the most powerful business lobbies in Washington, immediately issued a statement criticizing the Democratic commissioners' votes. "Today's open meeting lays bare the path that Federal Trade Commission wants to proceed in picking winners and losers in our economy — to the detriment of American consumers and market-based competition," Jordan Crenshaw, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce's Technology Engagement Center, said in a statement. Tech groups including Netchoice also released critical statements. | 
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