Lina Khan and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) she chairs are pursuing multiple cases against Google for alleged antitrust violations. Federal courts have ruled against the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in these types of cases much more often than not in recent months. However, while they have a track record of losing in court, these cases have fomented an atmosphere of regulatory uncertainty which some experts argue is by design.

"Luckily, Biden's antitrust enforcers at the DOJ and the FTC have a near-perfect record of striking out in court," said Robert H. Bork, Jr., president of the Antitrust Education Project. "However, despite their inability to find success in the courts, their actions still present very real dangers to consumers and to innovation in the quest for a progressive judge or just to try to game the system with brute force redundancy."

Recently, a federal judge dismissed the FTC's attempt to block Meta's acquisition of virtual reality app developer Within Unlimited, which created Supernatural, a fitness app. The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote that "The FTC doesn’t have a strong legal case under antitrust law. Meta doesn’t own a fitness app that directly competes with Supernatural. The FTC originally claimed that Meta’s Beat Saber rhythm game did compete, but it later dropped this argument and leaned on the strained theory that its acquisition would undermine potential competition."

After the federal judge dismissed the FTC's case, the FTC was given the option to appeal portions of the decision before an internal administrative judge, the Washington Examiner reported. On Feb. 10, the FTC decided to drop their case prior to their administrative hearing, the story said.

The dismissal of the FTC's case against Meta is part of a long string of losses. According to Reuters "[t]he U.S. government has been hit with four painful losses at antitrust trials recently but legal experts do not expect the Biden administration's regulators to slow efforts to make American business more competitive. In fact, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have vowed to press on aggressively."

According to Technical.ly, eight states and the DOJ are currently suing Google for the alleged monopoly they hold over the digital advertising market. The case calls for Google to divest from its advertising suite, which includes publisher ad server DoubleClick. Technical.ly reports that this case is the second against Google that involved monopolization claims. In the fall of 2020, the DOJ filed a case claiming that Google had unfair control of search, thanks to partnerships with other big tech companies like Apple.

In a statement, Google responded to the DOJ stating: "DOJ is demanding that we unwind two acquisitions that were reviewed by U.S. regulators 12 years ago (AdMeld) and 15 years ago (DoubleClick). In seeking to reverse these two acquisitions, DOJ is attempting to rewrite history at the expense of publishers, advertisers and internet users. Both of these acquisitions enabled us to invest heavily in developing new and innovative advertising technologies. These deals were reviewed by regulators, including by DOJ, and allowed to proceed. Since then, competition in this sector has only increased."

The WSJ editorial board wrote that Khan, the FTC chair, may not care that she has been handed loss after loss in these cases "since her goal is to create regulatory uncertainty that discourages businesses from attempting acquisitions and mergers. Filing unworthy lawsuits to harass legal business decisions is not what the antitrust laws were passed to accomplish."

Christine Wilson, an antitrust lawyer, made the decision to resign from her position as an FTC commissioner due in part to the FTC's recent policies that have abandoned prior antitrust precendent, the Wall Street Journal reported. She wrote: “The commission also candidly explained that its analysis under the new policy may depart from prior antitrust precedent, and identified previously lawful conduct as now suspect. In other words, the new policy adopts an 'I know it when I see it' approach. But due process demands that the lines between lawful and unlawful conduct be clearly drawn, to guide businesses before they face a lawsuit."

Khan built much of her career around challenging Amazon and a "law review article she wrote while at Yale Law School that argued that antitrust law has failed to restrain the online retailer," the Wall Street Journal reported.

The FTC is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon in the coming months that could challenge an array of the company's business practices as "anti-competitive," the Journal said.