Big tech: threat or America’s best hope in global AI race? Questions for Trump antitrust appointees

Continued scrutiny of tech companies by antitrust authorities is expected under the Trump administration, with two new nominees awaiting confirmation to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The President has tapped former Vance adviser Gail Slater to head the DOJ’s Antitrust Division and antitrust attorney Mark Meador to the FTC to serve as a commissioner.

While both nominees bring impressive resumes to the agencies, some of their past statements raise serious concerns for the future of American innovation. This is particularly true in the critical field of artificial intelligence (AI) and America’s heated race with China for technological supremacy. Senators should consider whether heighted antitrust scrutiny of American tech companies will hinder our global competitiveness.

Slater was an antitrust attorney at the FTC for 10 years, and she joined the White House’s National Economic Council in 2018 for a year. She also served as vice president and general counsel for Roku, Inc., where she lobbied for the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (S. 2992), an expansive antitrust bill introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) that specifically targeted big tech companies.

Slater’s nomination has been met with optimism by some intellectual property experts. Adam Mossoff, professor of law at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, says that President Trump’s pick will support innovation by cracking down on predatory patent infringement by established incumbents.

However, Slater has previously expressed skepticism regarding large investments by big tech companies to develop new products. In 2011, Gail Slater authored an article for The Regulatory Review in which she questioned the ambitions behind Google Books.

Originally called “Project Ocean,” Google started scanning books in 2004 to create a digital repository for millions of both copyrighted and out of print books. Google spent about $400 million to scan roughly 25 million books. For those that are still protected under copyright, users can only view “snippets” of texts showing relevant search terms. The snippets permit researchers and consumers to preview small portions of a book that ultimately assist them in deciding whether to purchase or not to purchase.

Slater declared the undertaking “hugely ambitious – perhaps even arrogant. With Google, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference.” Acknowledging a project as ambitious is one thing. Calling it arrogant is another. And it’s worth finding out how Slater might view other large investments into new technologies, namely AI.

Vice President Vance, speaking during the AI Action Summit in France today, said, “we need our European friends in particular to look at this new frontier with optimism, rather than trepidation.” American regulators should likewise view investments in AI with optimism.

Slater’s predecessor at the DOJ during the Biden administration, Jonathan Kanter, did not share this optimism. During his fireside chat at the 2024 “Antitrust, Regulation and the Next World Order” conference in Brussels, Kanter said the DOJ and FTC were determining which agency would lead an antitrust probe into Microsoft’s $13 billion investment into OpenAI.

Shortly after, US and European Union (EU) antitrust regulators met to discuss AI competition policy best practices. And the FTC, DOJ, EU, and United Kingdom regulators issued a joint statement on AI competition enforcement.

Vice President Vance highlighted the hundreds of billions of dollars expected to be invested into AI research and development within the US. He also expressed concern about reports of some governments considering stricter regulations on US tech companies operating internationally.

“America cannot and will not accept that,” Vance said. Biden antitrust regulators, particularly former FTC Chair Lina Khan, received heavy criticism for colluding with their European counterparts to hamstring American companies. Senators should ask for assurances that this will not continue under the Trump administration. 

Trump’s pick to replace Khan’s seat at the FTC, Mark Meador, has been more explicit in his animosity towards big tech companies. Speaking at the Global Antitrust Institute’s 25^th Annual Symposium in 2022, Meador seemed to imply that big tech companies could be considered domestic enemies, invoking the oath taken by members of Congress to defend the Constitution.

This appears at odds with the administration’s focus on the important role that American companies will play in the AI race with China. President Trump recently touted a new partnership between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, which aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure.

Meador has also indicated that he views antitrust as a tool to combat alleged “censorship” on online platforms, seemingly conflating the results of editorial decisions with anti-competitive harms. But editorial discretion is not censorship. The FTC should not use antitrust law to punish tech companies for exercising their First Amendment rights.

Granted, both conservatives and libertarians are right to be concerned about jawboning, where government officials pressure tech companies to censor Americans’ speech. But more government interference is not the solution to too much government interference. Government remains the biggest threat to citizens’ free speech rights.

Meador has served in positions in both the executive branch and the legislative branch. He was an antitrust enforcer with both the FTC and the DOJ and was an attorney for the Senate Judiciary Committee and Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) office. Meador supported the Open App Markets Act (S. 2710) which would have mandated “sideloading” and required platforms to allow users to download apps outside of official app stores. A similar measure is currently under fire in Europe for resulting in a pornography app being allowed on Apple devices for the first time and against Apple’s will.

Mandating sideloading would make Americans’ devices more susceptible to foreign malicious applications. And Meador views TikTok, which he called “just another spy [balloon] but with memes,” as one these malicious apps. Meador’s support of the Open App Markets Act certainly does not disqualify him to serve as an FTC commissioner, but it does reveal a certain shortsightedness when it comes to technology.

As both Slater and Meador have advocated for expansive antitrust legislation targeting large tech platforms, it’s important for senators to discern how they view certain remedies in technology markets and how those remedies might affect user security and the global competitiveness of US tech companies. Senators should take these upcoming confirmation hearings seriously, because the antitrust authorities under Trump should not continue the legacy of the antitrust authorities under Biden.