FTC’s Khan Overruled Staff to Sue Meta Over VR App Deal (1)

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan led her fellow Democrats in the agency’s majority vote to sue Meta Platforms Inc. this week, despite the staff recommending against bringing a case to challenge the company’s acquisition of Within Unlimited Inc., according to three people with knowledge of the decision.

The move demonstrates Khan’s new, more aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement compared with her predecessors -- as well as the challenges she faces in bringing the agency along with her.

Lina Khan

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Agency leadership has been reluctant in the past to counter a recommendation from staff lawyers and economists, whose job it ...