Facebook seeks U.S. FTC Chair Lina Khan’s recusal in antitrust case

WASHINGTON: Facebook on Wednesday asked for the recusal of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan from the FTC’s antitrust case against the company, a step that could imperil the agency’s lawsuit against it.

The FTC sued Facebook in December, alleging that the social media giant broke antitrust law in buying photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp. A U.S. judge in June dismissed the complaint but gave the agency a roadmap for how to rewrite it and gave it a deadline of July 29 to refile it.

In a petition filed to the FTC, Facebook asked that Khan not be permitted to participate in deciding whether and how the FTC’s case against Facebook should proceed. Since the two current Republican commissioners voted to oppose the FTC lawsuit against Facebook in December, Khan’s recusal would leave two