What to watch at Lina Khan’s confirmation hearing

With help from Leah Nylen, John Hendel and Cristiano Lima

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Quick Fix

— Yes we Khan: Lina Khan’s confirmation hearing today will reveal whether Republicans intend to mobilize against the progressive FTC nominee or see an ally in the fight against Big Tech.

— What’s ’appening: We chatted with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) about how today’s hearing on issues with Apple and Google’s app stores could set the stage for federal intervention.

— Future of broadband at USDA: Lawmakers are pushing to move the Agriculture Department’s rural broadband program past its pilot stage.

IT’S WEDNESDAY. WELCOME TO MORNING TECH. I’m your host, Emily Birnbaum. I know a lot of us are thinking today about our country’s deep inequalities. Here’s some thoughtful coverage from my POLITICO colleagues about the Derek Chauvin conviction and what more can be done to address systemic issues within policing and criminal justice.

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Tech of the Town

COMMERCE TO VET KHAN FOR FTC — A day after the Senate Commerce Committee quizzed the FTC’s current crew, the panel will hear from Khan — President Joe Biden’s nominee to join the five-member commission. A prominent anti-monopoly advocate and former House Judiciary staffer, Khan told the committee in her written questionnaire that the biggest challenges facing the agency include identifying unfair and deceptive conduct in emerging technologies, its power to retrieve money for victims of fraud and scams (the controversy over Section 13(b) of the FTC Act), and restoring confidence in the FTC. “Over the last decade, repeat violations of FTC orders and uneven enforcement have undermined public trust in the Commission,” she wrote.

— For our MT trivia nerds: If confirmed, Khan will be the 18th woman to serve as FTC commissioner, and the third Asian-American Pacific Islander after her former boss, Rohit Chopra, and Commissioner Dennis Yao, a Democrat nominated to the agency by President George H.W. Bush (Khan is of Pakistani descent).

— Twitter yes, Facebook not so much: Khan told the panel she uses Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, though the last two accounts she described as “dormant.” (Her Insta is, sadly, private but you can check out some of her photography on her website).

— What to watch: We’re waiting to see if Republicans on the committee rally against Khan’s nomination — she is a favorite of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — or if they ultimately get behind her as a warrior in the battle with the big tech companies. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he intends to ask her about Section 230 and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has been vocal about his concerns with her views and lack of experience. The rest of the panel’s Republicans are an open question.

APP STORE HEARING TODAY — Executives with Apple and Google will face a grilling today from the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee during a hearing about the power they wield over their app stores. Klobuchar, the chair of the committee, told MT she hopes the hearing will build support for her broad antitrust bill, which contains provisions preventing tech platforms from engaging in monopolistic conduct that disadvantages competitors.

She’s particularly focused on how Apple prevents consumers from learning when they could get a better deal outside of the app store. “Nothing can explain away that except a monopoly,” Klobuchar told MT. She said she’s open to breaking up her sweeping antitrust package into different pieces.

“I think some of this is going to end up in investigations with DOJ or FTC,” Klobuchar said. “Sure, they charge one rate for smaller app developers, but the minute anyone gets close to them, they start doing things like self preferencing, charging really high rates or telling them they can’t tell consumers they can get better deals. That’s anticompetitive.”

— What witnesses will say: Spotify’s head of global affairs, Horacio Gutierrez, will call for federal intervention to chip away at Apple’s “monopoly power,” according to excerpts provided to MT. He will recommend legislation that would ban Apple from requiring app developers to use its payment system, prohibit Apple from boosting its own apps above those of rivals, and more. “When it comes to Apple’s app store, in the absence of structural relief to address conflicts of interest, narrowly tailored refinements can go a long way to preserving competition,” he will say.

Jared Sine, the chief legal officer of Match Group, will say that app store fees account for the company’s largest-growing expense — more than half a billion dollars every year, according to an excerpt shared with MT. (Match Group’s stable of dating apps includes Tinder, Hinge and PlentyofFish.) Sine will call for the committee to investigate the 30 percent cut that Apple and Google take from in-app purchases and how Apple and Google treat safety concerns on their platforms.

— Epic v. Apple access: Meanwhile, the blockbuster antitrust trial between Epic Games and Apple kicks off in two weeks and the companies will be in court today to hash out last-minute details — including some of particular interest to MT. On Friday, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a brief on behalf of POLITICO and 17 other news organizations urging more press access to the three-week trial taking place in-person in Oakland, Calif.

— Because of Covid concerns, the court has only allowed reporters and the public to listen to the trial on an audio line. RCFP asked the court to allow video or a designated courtroom spot for one reporter and to provide public access to emails and documents admitted as trial exhibits. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will address access at today’s hearing after conferring with court staff.

ON THE FRONTIER — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) are set to introduce their highly anticipated Endless Frontier Act — with 12 new co-sponsors — this morning, two people familiar with the legislation told MT. Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is expected to announce a markup for the legislation for next week.

The bill’s new Republican co-sponsors include Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), Rob Portman (Ohio), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Steve Daines (Mont.), and Roy Blunt (Mo.). The Democrats are Sen. Chris Coons (Del.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Gary Peters (Mich.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.). Stay tuned!

HOUSE LAWMAKERS EYE NEXT STEPS FOR USDA BROADBAND PROGRAM — During Tuesday’s marathon rural broadband hearing, multiple members of the House Agriculture Committee said they want to push their colleagues to move the Agriculture Department’s two-year-old ReConnect program, aimed at helping deliver broadband to rural lands, past its pilot stage.

“ReConnect has served its purpose as a pilot program, and now it’s time to deliver on policies and programs that we promised,” ranking member G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) said. He and colleagues including Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) argued for fully funding that effort.

House Agriculture Chair David Scott (D-Ga.) said he wants his panel to be at “the vanguard” of tackling the digital divide. He said he hopes to put together legislation addressing broadband issues by the end of the year.

— The coordination catch: Lawmakers widely acknowledge tensions around how many different agencies deliver broadband subsidies, all relying on different metrics and data — issues that will likely matter as part of Biden’s push for $100 billion in broadband investments in his infrastructure plan. Wicker, top Republican on Senate Commerce, recently urged greater interagency coordination.

— At a separate hearing Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo reassured lawmakers that the Biden administration wants to coordinate on broadband across agencies. Read more on these broadband tensions here.

TAKEAWAYS FROM FTC OVERSIGHT — Tuesday’s hearing on strengthening the FTC’s consumer protection powers offered a glimpse into what tech policy issues Cantwell will prioritize. She said the panel is looking to hold a hearing next month on how the dominance of the tech giants has affected the news industry, and she focused most of her other comments on Section 13(b) of the FTC Act, which could be diminished by the Supreme Court in a case it’s reviewing. Cantwell said Congress may need to step in and reinstate that authority if the courts chip away at it.

— Movement on 13(b): On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to cement the FTC’s Section 13(b) authority, explicitly reworking the statute to affirm the FTC’s authority to obtain injunctive and equitable relief for all violations of the laws it enforces. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on the legislation on April 27.

Transitions

Lea Kissner, an alum of Google, Apple and Zoom, has joined Twitter as head of privacy engineering. … XA Network, an investment organization, appointed its first advisory board, including YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, Twitter APAC lead Maya Hari and former Microsoft executive John Wood. … The FCC has launched the Robocall Mitigation Database. … The Alliance for Commercial Technology in Government, a trade association of technology development and integration companies, launches today.

Silicon Valley Must-Reads

— Global unity: The New York Times has a great run-down of the regulatory scrutiny that large tech companies are facing in countries around the world.

— Not so happy meal: “They hacked McDonald’s ice cream machines—and started a cold war,” a fun read from Wired.

Quick Downloads

— Broadband battle: A new study from US Telecom concludes that the U.S. leads the European Union in broadband deployment and adoption, while outpacing Europe on key investment and competition measurements as well.

— Organizers on alert: Progressives are mobilizing against AT&T and T-Mobile’s new texting rules, arguing they will hurt their mobilization efforts, The Intercept reports.

— Pushing Verizon: A group of 13 senators sent a letter to Verizon asking about how the company will handle the transition away from 2G and 3G.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Bob King ([email protected], @bkingdc), Heidi Vogt ([email protected], @HeidiVogt), John Hendel ([email protected], @JohnHendel), Cristiano Lima ([email protected], @viaCristiano), Alexandra S. Levine ([email protected], @Ali_Lev), Leah Nylen ([email protected], @leah_nylen), and Emily Birnbaum ([email protected], @birnbaum_e). Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [email protected]. And don’t forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

SEE YOU TOMORROW!