Amazon asks for FTC head to step aside from antitrust probes

WASHINGTON — Amazon is asking that the new head of the Federal Trade Commission step aside from antitrust investigations into the e-commerce giant, contending that her past public criticism of the company’s market power makes it impossible for her to be impartial. Amazon petitioned the agency Wednesday to remove Chair Lina Khan from taking part in current probes of the company’s market conduct. As counsel to a House Judiciary antitrust panel in 2019 and 2020, Khan played a key role in a sweeping bipartisan investigation of the market power of the four tech giants. New legislative proposals approved last week by the House Judiciary Committee raised the issue of a possible forced spinoff of Amazon’s private-label products that compete with vendors on the platform.