By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has named a former tech policy researcher from the conservative Heritage Foundation as its chief technology officer.
Jake Denton, who graduated from American University in 2021, announced his appointment to the FTC in a post on X on Monday.
He replaces Stephanie Nguyen, who had been appointed in 2022 under former FTC Chair Lina Khan.
The FTC first hired a chief technologist during the Obama administration to advise on emerging tech policy issues.
Denton comes to the FTC as the agency’s new chairman, Andrew Ferguson, begins to build his agenda. Ferguson previously expressed concern about Big Tech companies dominating digital markets and public forums, but said regulators should be wary of impeding U.S. innovation.
Denton said in a Fox News interview in July 2023 that Congress should pass artificial intelligence legislation. An opinion piece that he co-wrote with the Heritage Foundation’s tech policy director and published by Fox News in October called for greater U.S. involvement in international AI standard-setting efforts.
“If America and freedom-loving nations don’t write the rules of the road for emerging technologies like AI, authoritarians will do it for us,” Denton and Kara Frederick, the Heritage tech policy director, wrote.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025– largely seen as a policy blueprint for the Trump administration — laid out ways antitrust enforcers can champion conservative causes while also questioning whether the FTC should continue to exist.
Along with the Federal Communications Commission, the FTC is the de facto U.S. technology regulator, tasked with enforcing laws that protect online shoppers and children on the internet, in addition to prohibitions on unfair, deceptive and anticompetitive business practices.
Under Khan, the FTC started looking into partnerships in AI, including between Microsoft and OpenAI, investigating potentially anticompetitive conduct at Microsoft and probing whether OpenAI violated consumer protection laws.
It is not clear whether Ferguson will continue those probes. President Donald Trump said Ferguson would be “the most America First, and pro-innovation” head of the FTC. Ferguson has criticized Big Tech companies, particularly over content moderation policies.
The agency is also gearing up to go to trial in April against Meta Platforms in a case brought during the first Trump administration over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
The FTC also sued Amazon.com during President Joe Biden’s term over policies it says were designed to suppress competition and keep Prime subscribers from cancelling.
Both companies have denied the allegations.
Denton, prior to working at the Heritage Foundation, did internships in Congress and had a fellowship at the Federalist Society.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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