Biden to nominate long-time Google foe Jonathan Kanter as head of the DOJ's antitrust division to ramp up crackdown on Big Tech
President Joe Biden plans to nominate Jonathan Kanter as head of the Justice Departments antitrust division as the administration aims to crack down on Big Tech.
Kanter has been a longtime foe of Google and as a lawyer pushed his clients to sue the company and other Big Tech giants for antitrust.
His nomination comes less than two weeks after Biden signed an executive order designed to promote competition and crack down on huge companies dominating the market.
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday he plans to nominat Jonathan Kanter to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice
The Biden administration previously chose two antitrust progressives with tech expertise, Tim Wu for the National Economic Council and Lina Khan to be a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kanter would join Khan and Wu as the most senior officials charged with taking on these firms.
Khan and Wu already have a track record of pushing for tougher regulations of these companies.
Kanter, who previously worked for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton; Garrison LLP and two other big law firms, would take the reins of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division amid calls for tougher antitrust enforcement, especially with regard to four big tech platforms: Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple.
In a statement, the White House said Kanter is a 'distinguished antitrust lawyer with over 20 years of experience.'
The Biden administration previously chose two antitrust progressives with tech expertise, Tim Wu for the National Economic Council and Lina Khan to be a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission
'Throughout his career, Kanter has also been a leading advocate and expert in the effort to promote strong and meaningful antitrust enforcement and competition policy.
'He is currently a partner at The Kanter Law Group LLP, which is a boutique antitrust law firm that advocates in favor of federal and state antitrust law enforcement.
Kanter, according to Bloomberg, was one of the first advocates for aggressive antitrust action.
In 2016, he criticized antitrust officials for failing to bring monopoly cases against Big Tech companies, including Amazon.
'Antitrust enforcement is barely on life support,' he said. 'When was the last time you can remember a major antitrust agency bringing a monopolization case? The reason you can't remember it is because they haven't done it.