A coalition of conservative groups urged Senate Republicans to vote against Federal Trade Commission nominee Melissa Holyoak due to her alleged “ties” to the country’s largest tech companies.
(Bloomberg) — A coalition of conservative groups urged Senate Republicans to vote against Federal Trade Commission nominee Melissa Holyoak due to her alleged “ties” to the country’s largest tech companies.
The letter, which the groups sent to the Senate on Wednesday, is an early sign that Holyoak’s nomination to the consumer protection and antitrust agency could face a bumpy road.
Republicans have battled internally for months over whether the new Republican FTC commissioners should be “anti-Big Tech,” meaning they are willing to use the power of government to crack down on firms including Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc.
“Ms. Holyoak’s ties to global Big Tech corporations make her wholly unsuitable for the position,” wrote representatives from the conservative groups Bull Moose Project, New York Young Republicans Club and ACT For America.
Holyoak did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Joe Biden on July 3 nominated Holyoak, solicitor general with the Utah attorney general’s office, and Andrew Ferguson, Virginia’s solicitor general, to the two Republican FTC commissioner spots. Traditionally, the president nominates the candidates chosen by the Senate Republican leader, in this case Mitch McConnell.
Holyoak spent five years as an attorney for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank that has received tens of thousands of dollars from the biggest tech companies. Both CEI and a separate group founded by Holyoak, the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, have opposed government regulations. Holyoak previously objected to dozens of class action settlements including Google, according to the letter.
Holyoak has served under Attorney General Sean Reyes since 2020.
Holyoak has participated in legal action against Google as well. Utah is leading a bipartisan antitrust lawsuit, set for trial in November, alleging Google has abused its position as a dominant app store for Android devices.
Two Republican commissioners left the FTC over the past year. During her departure, FTC Republican Commissioner Christine Wilson blamed the leadership of Chair Lina Khan, a progressive with an ambitious antitrust agenda.
“The FTC should be led by officials who believe in a free and fair market for consumers and a vibrant innovation-based economy for entrepreneurs, not ones who advocate for monopolization and stifling competition,” said Aiden Buzzetti, president of the Bull Moose Project.
A Republican commissioner who is aligned with Khan could help speed up the agency’s efforts to improve privacy online and curb the power of the tech industry.
Ferguson and Holyoak will appear before the Senate Commerce Committee for their confirmation hearings in the coming months.
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