“DOGE Staffers Enter Antitrust Agency Headquarters in Government Efficiency Push” by Jody Godoy (Reuters) – Two individuals collaborating with billionaire Elon Musk on an initiative to significantly reduce the size of the U.S. government have commenced their roles at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the regulatory body responsible for enforcing antitrust laws and combatting corporate fraud. Gavin Kliger, previously involved in the team that arrived at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in February before staff reductions began, and Emily Bryant are representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), established by President Donald Trump to streamline the federal bureaucracy. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson is in favor of the president’s efforts to eliminate inefficiency, fraud, and abuse within the federal government, according to FTC spokesperson Joe Simonson. The arrival of Kliger and Bryant is likely to please critics of the FTC in the business community, who have voiced concerns about ongoing cases initiated during President Joe Biden’s administration and called for restraint on enforcement actions under Trump. Trump has charged Ferguson and his DOJ counterpart, Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater, with confronting major tech companies. Both have indicated shared concerns with their predecessors regarding the negative impact of anticompetitive practices on consumers and innovation, affirming their commitment to challenging illegal monopolies and mergers. The specific proposals that the DOGE staffers may put forth at the FTC are not immediately known. Bryant and Kliger, a computer scientist educated at Berkeley who has supported extremist groups online, joined the agency approximately three weeks after the controversial dismissal of the FTC’s two Democratic commissioners by the White House. The repercussions of cost-cutting measures from the Trump administration at the FTC have been minimal thus far. An FTC attorney suggested in March during a court hearing that resource limitations could impact a consumer protection case against Amazon, a statement later refuted by the agency. The Constitution Center in Washington, where most FTC staff are based, was initially slated for termination, prompting a potential relocation by June. Ferguson successfully lobbied to reverse this decision, although he acknowledged that a move or significant alteration to the existing office layout would eventually be necessary, as outlined in a March 18 internal memo seen by Reuters. The FTC is on the verge of a trial against Meta Platforms, where the agency alleges that the social media giant acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to stifle emerging competition. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly engaged in discussions with White House officials, with reports from The Wall Street Journal indicating that Zuckerberg has been advocating for a settlement with Trump. (Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
