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00:00Big tech is one of the main priorities you have said for the Trump Vance, FTC. From just a bird's eye perspective here. What does main priorities mean in terms of more enforcement than the past, FTC or less? Well, thank you for having me. And good morning. That's a good question. I think it's making sure that the FTC is devoting sufficient resources to protect Americans when they're online and that President Trump has taken sort of the big tech issue very seriously, dating back to his first administration, the Google search case and the meta monopolization case for both brought by President Trump's administration in 2020. And we don't intend to sort of take our foot off the gas. Every American interacts with big tech. Every American is online. And I think it's really important that at the FTC, we're taking very seriously protecting Americans both from competition problems that big tech platforms might present, but also consumer protection problems. So we're going to devote a lot of resources to protecting Americans online, just like President Trump did in his first administration. And let's talk about certainty here, because you said basically under previous FTC and previous administration, there was a lack of regulatory certainty. So if I'm now matter, am I pretty darn sure that I'm going to trial? Yeah. So that's a that's a good point. The consistent complaint I heard and is heard from the business community about the Biden FTC was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of lack of clarity, a sudden presentation of novel theories. Look, we're gearing up for trial, the trial scheduled in about a month. We've got some of the FTC's best lawyers on it, and we're we're getting ready to go. This trial has been five years in the making. Again, this started by President Trump in 2020. And we have got the resources ready to go and we're ready for trial. If I'm Microsoft, if I'm Alphabet, if I'm Amazon, do I think the same that I should be giving up my best lawyers to go to trial? I think if you are a big tech company, you should be getting your lawyers to give you great advice on complying with our competition and consumer protection laws. Look, I don't have a particular axe to grind with any industry, but I do think it's very important that the FTC devote its resources to the markets that Americans most frequently engage with. It's not just big tech, although that's definitely one of them. It's also health care. And it's protecting American is laborers. But no matter who you are, I think it's important to proceed. Like the FTC is a vigilant cop on the beat. We're surveying the markets. We're looking for competition problems. We're looking for violation of the consumer protection laws. And if we think they're there, we're going to go to court. But most importantly, if we don't think that there are problems, it's really important for the FTC to get out of the way. Again, one of the most consistent complaints that I've heard about the previous administration was a lack of certainty and a tendency to want to do a lot of regulating. The FTC were not regulators were cops on the beat. We police for competition problems and consumer protection problems. But we're not trying to regulate the economy. We want to create economic conditions that allow companies to innovate, to grow, and to help lift the whole country out of this debt crisis and bring about the golden age that President Trump Trump has promised the American people. Talk about striking that balance because many would say, if I look at Europe, they regulate too much, there's too much enforcement. But in many ways they're being a strict cop on the beat, some would say. So from your perspective, are you seeing overregulation in Europe and is there a worry about stifling innovation in the United States by the amount of focus you have on big tech right now? Well, I do think that Europe has a real regulatory problem. It has an innovation problem, and we definitely don't want to create conditions here in the United States that suppress innovation. But I think it's important to bear in mind. Monopoly suppresses innovation. Monopoly makes it very difficult for little companies with the next great idea to sort of rise. And I think it's very important if we want to sort of preserve the American innovating spirit, that we create conditions in our economy that allow little tech who have the next great ideas, the next life changing ideas for all Americans to thrive. President Trump has been pretty emphatic on the importance of making sure that our economic system allows little tech to bring its ideas to market. And that's what antitrust really does, is it prevents monopoly, and monopoly stifles innovation. So if the antitrust cops are vigilant and are making sure that they're protecting us from competition problems, it allows the innovation that has made America and our economy sort of the driving engine of the whole world. What deals do you think can get done? Is there any prescription you can give us to disseminate will look good if you are a big tech hogging little tech. I think that the deals that can get done are the deals that are lawful. And I think the most important thing I want to take away from this is I see it as my job to scrutinize deals consistently with the timeline Congress created and our antitrust laws. And if we think that they are illegal and we think that we can win in court, we're going to go to court. But if we don't think that they are illegal or we don't think we can win in court, the FTC is going to get out of the way again. I've heard this complaint a lot from the business community that in the previous administration, a deal would enter the FTC and it would sort of disappear and sometimes it could disappear for months while, you know, novel ideas were floated, different theories. And sometimes it sort of seemed like the FTC was hoping the deals would die on the vine while they waited for regulatory clearance. I want nothing to do with that. If a deal is illegal and I think we can win in court, I'm going to go to court. But if it's not, we're going to get out of the way and we're going to let deals go forward. M & A is part of how the economy grows. It's an important part of fostering a system that allows for innovation and dynamism. But we have to make sure that we don't create a monopoly. And I see that as my job. If we think there's a monopoly problem, then the government's going to intervene. But if not, we've got to get out of the way as quickly as possible and let the economy grow. Does the air space look like it's thriving or do you worry about monopolistic behavior that. Yeah, I think it is extremely important that we protect competition in the air space. But I think it is equally important that the government not race to regulate. I. I. Vice President Vance's speech in Europe on I think is about the perfect way to thread this needle. We've got to ensure that there's competition. We've got to ensure there's competition because competition for votes promotes innovation. But we can't have the government come in with a heavy regulatory hand and stifle innovation again. We don't want monopolies stifling innovation. We don't want big government stifling innovation. And admittedly, that's not an easy needle to thread, but that's how I think about it, is protect competition, but don't overregulate. I because that's exactly how we're going to kill the innovated prospects of A.I.. You started all of this by talking about the very close look you're going to take at every enforcement action that's out there at the moment, whether you pursue it or not. But just that assessment takes a lot of labor. You've also said you've got the resources. I know everyone's been asking you about what this lawyer said in court last week regarding the Amazon prime deal. And ultimately you've been saying he was wrong and they came out and said that, no, we do have enough resources, even though he said there's an extremely severe resource shortfall in terms of money and personnel at the FTC. Have you got the right amount of people and how are you living up to DOJ's necessities to slim down? Well, I didn't say that the lawyer was wrong. The lawyer said the lawyer was wrong. He filed something almost immediately after his statement to the court explaining we don't have the resource constraints that he thought. We don't have resource constraints. I've said from day one, we've got the resources to litigate these cases. That remains true. But I also want to be clear. I think that the president's efficiency agenda is one of the most important things going in government right now. Government should not be any larger than necessary to deliver the services and protections that the American people deserve. And at the FTC, look, we're a lean operation. Our budget is less than half a billion dollars. We've only got around 1300 employees and we deliver a lot of value for the American people. But we have got the resources we need to deliver on our competition mandate, our consumer protection mandate. But we're always looking to be as efficient as possible. The American people voted for major reform. President Trump is giving it to them. And I'm very happy to be a part of that efficiency agenda at the FTC. And what about that competition focus as well as consumer protection? Some on Capitol Hill thinking, well, maybe give the competition thing to the DOJ. You stick with the consumer protection. How do you feel about that? I'm going to let the Hill do do what it does. My focus is on the FTC's mandate as it exists today. We've got robust competition group at the FTC. They do incredible work. We're going to keep doing incredible work to protect the American people from Monopoly. Our consumer protection work is some of our most important work as well. We devote tremendous resources to that, too. And the American people get a lot of value from our consumer protection work. There's nothing worse than being defrauded out of your hard earned money. And the FTC, with our state partners and other partners in the federal government, goes a long way to making sure that Americans are not subject to scams and frauds. Both of these are important part of the FTC's work. The Hill is going to do what it does. I'm focused on the job we have for the FTC right now.

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FTC Chair Puts Big Tech on Notice

US Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson says the agency is ready to go to trial next month and break up Meta Platforms. The parent company of Facebook would be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. “We’ve got some of the FTC’s best lawyers on it and we’re getting ready to go," Ferguson told Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde. (Source: Bloomberg)

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