President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday named Gail Slater, a veteran tech and media policy adviser, to the top antitrust post at the Justice Department, as he vowed to continue a crackdown on the power of the biggest tech companies.
Ms. Slater, if confirmed as assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, would inherit lawsuits to break up Google’s search monopoly and ad tech dominance, a well as a case accusing Apple of making it hard for consumers to switch software and hardware.
She previously worked as policy adviser for Vice President-elect JD Vance and during Mr. Trump’s first presidential term served as tech policy adviser at the National Economic Council.
“Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
In recent years, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, regulators have gone after the biggest tech companies for their power over the way we shop, consume information and communicate online. In addition to the Google and Apple lawsuits filed by the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission has sued both Amazon and Meta over antitrust violations.
The appointment of Ms. Slater signals that path is likely to continue under a second Trump administration, tech policy experts said.
It is unclear, however, if Ms. Slater would continue the Biden administration’s aggressive approach to antitrust in other sectors. Republicans have criticized actions by Biden’s top antitrust enforcers, who have blocked mergers and broken up monopolies in industries including airlines and pharmaceuticals.
Ms. Slater also has experience working for tech companies in the private sector. She was a lawyer at the Internet Association, a now-defunct trade association with members that included Google and Meta. She has also worked for tech company Roku and the media company Fox Corp.
“In her new role, Gail will help ensure that our competition laws are enforced, both vigorously and FAIRLY, with clear rules that facilitate, rather than stifle, the ingenuity of our greatest companies,” Mr. Trump said.
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