FTC Nominee Mark Meador Says Agency Should Target Tech Censorship

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Mark Meador, said Tuesday (Feb. 25) during a Senate confirmation hearing that the agency should combat companies’ overly restrictive noncompete agreements and should continue its efforts to fight censorship on tech platforms.

Meador was nominated to fill the third Republican seat at the FTC, which has five commissioners, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

On the issue of noncompetes, Meador said that these agreements have been “overused and abused” and that the FTC could bring competition enforcement agreements against companies that have agreements that are overly restrictive, according to the report.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said earlier that he is launching a task force to investigate noncompete, no-hire and no-poach contracts, the report said, adding that Ferguson opposed efforts by the Biden administration’s FTC chair, Lina Khan, to ban these agreements through agency rulemaking.

Asked during the hearing about the FTC’s recent move to seek public comment on censorship by tech platforms, Meador said that the agency is “off to the right start” and that it could pursue cases against any platforms that colluded to establish content moderation standards or deceived consumers about the application of the platforms’ terms of service, per the report.

In private practice, Meador represented social media platform Rumble in antitrust lawsuits against Google and advertisers that the platform alleged boycotted it, the report said. When nominated for the seat at the FTC, he said he would recuse himself from cases involving former clients for at least a year.

When the FTC announced Thursday (Feb. 20) that it launched a public inquiry into “tech censorship,” it said tech platforms may be breaking the law when they deny or degrade users’ access to services based on the content of their speech or affiliations.

Trump announced his nomination of Meador on Dec. 11, shortly after appointing Ferguson as the FTC’s chair.

Meador has extensive antitrust experience, worked with both the FTC and the Justice Department early in his career, and served as an adviser to Utah Sen. Mike Lee, the ranking Republican on the Senate antitrust committee.

In private practice, Meador co-founded a law firm whose advocacy has included clients facing competitive challenges.