FTC Chair Lina Khan vs. Big Tech

Soon after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were murdered, Infowars’ Alex Jones began to push the false idea that the tragedy was a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government to promote gun restrictions. So a group of parents decided to sue Jones for defamation, and in 2022 they were awarded a $1.5 billion settlement. This month, a bankruptcy judge ordered Jones to liquidate some of his personal assets to help cover the judgment. Jones was allowed to keep his controlling stake in the Infowars conspiracy site for now, but the site could be shut down within a matter of months. Elahe Izadi sits down with media reporter Will Sommer to talk about Jones’s fall and what it could mean for the future of the misinformation landscape.Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign.Host Elahe Izadi chats with reporters Amy Gardner and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, who are on the Democracy team at The Post. They discuss the efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and the ongoing political and legal fallout from those attempts. They also talk about the recent charges filed against fake electors in Arizona, including notable names like Rudy Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn, and why some election officials are making deep fakes of themselves to educate voters.Today’s show was produced by Ted Muldoon and Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Griff Witte. Subscribe to The Campaign Moment newsletter here. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the most ambitious climate measures in the U.S. to date. It contains tax credits for electric vehicles, and his administration has taken subsequent action forcing automakers to shift production away from gas-powered vehicles by capping allowable carbon emissions from the auto industry.But many consumers remain skeptical of the technology, and its adoption is largely concentrated in areas where Democrats are in the majority.All of this has become fodder for former president Donald Trump. At a recent rally in Las Vegas, he vowed to end the “mandate on electric” and complained that batteries are too heavy to power trucks and boats.And now, vulnerable Senate Democrats, such as Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, who helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, find themselves under attack for their party’s climate policies. Host Elahe Izadi speaks with Senate reporter Liz Goodwin about how one of Biden’s signature accomplishments turned into a liability for Democrats and could affect which party controls the Senate next year. Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Reena Flores and Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

American sports have changed from a unifying bond to a platform for division. Is there any going back?Sports columnist Jerry Brewer has been thinking about the state of sports for decades. In the past few years, it has soured in his mind. In his new series of essays titled “Grievance Games,” Brewer set out to explore why he believes the unifying power of sports has been ruptured through grievance politics. And how many of those grievances are racially charged. Today on Post Reports, Brewer narrates the first piece in the series, which serves as an introduction to his thinking.You can find this column, and the next three in the series, here.This story was written and narrated by Jerry Brewer. It was produced and mixed with original music by Bishop Sand.Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

The U.S. men’s cricket team’s win against Pakistan shocked the world – not just because they beat a titan of the sport, but also because many of the team’s players play cricket while juggling full-time jobs. “I’m focusing on my work and completely switched on [to] my work,” said Saurabh Netravalkar, an engineer for Oracle and a star player for Team USA. “And if I'm on the field, I’m completely on the field, so that really helps me – switching on and switching off.”Netravalkar spoke with The Post’s Pranshu Verma, a tech reporter and a huge cricket fan. He’s been following Team USA and Netravalkar’s historic rise. He discusses the attention that this tournament has brought to the sport in the United States and what it would take for it to become more widely popular in the country. Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell.Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

With every breath you take, you could be inhaling microplastics. Today, we talk about where they come from, how they impact our health and what we can do to avoid them in our daily lives.Read more:For years, scientists on the hunt for microplastics have found them almost everywhere. First, they spotted tiny pieces of plastic in the ocean, in the bodies of fish and mussels. Then they found them in soft drinks, in tap water, in vegetables and fruits, in burgers.Now researchers are discovering that microplastics are floating around us, suspended in the air on city streets and inside homes. One study found that people inhale or ingest on average 74,000 to 121,000 microplastic particles per year through breathing, eating and drinking.Today on “Post Reports,” climate reporter Shannon Osaka answers host Elahe Izadi’s questions about these plastic particles that humans are taking in in much larger quantities than previously thought. And she gives some advice on how to get microplastics out of our lives as much as possible. Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

It’s Friday, so it’s time for The Campaign Moment — our weekly roundtable conversation to help you keep track of the biggest developments of the 2024 campaign.In a district that overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2020, Ohio voters almost elected a Democratic congressman this week. But are such special election results representative? Senior political reporter Aaron Blake, who writes The Washington Post's new Campaign Moment newsletter, and Toluse Olorunnipa, White House bureau chief for The Post, sit down with host Elahe Izadi. They also discuss Hunter Biden’s conviction on felony gun charges, how family matters impact presidential campaigns, and polling that shows voters are checked out when it comes to major campaign stories.Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff and Ted Muldoon. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and Mary Jo Murphy. Subscribe to Aaron’s newsletter, The Campaign Moment, here. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Dietary supplements are enormously popular in the United States. A new federal survey found that a majority of Americans are taking them, with many consuming multiple kinds on a regular basis. And yet, supplements are shrouded in misconceptions. Supplements have less oversight than pharmaceutical drugs and are regulated differently. While people may take them to be healthier, we often don’t think about possible side effects or interactions. We also assume we know what we’re getting. Today, host Martine Powers talks with the Post’s Well+Being columnist, Anahad O’Connor, about how to be smarter about the supplements we take to improve our health. Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was edited by Lucy Perkins and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Since Lina Khan was appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission in 2021, the FTC has become more ambitious in its efforts to curb alleged unfair business practices. The agency has banned most non-compete agreements, has begun to scrutinize the proliferation of AI and has initiated lawsuits against massive tech companies like Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post).The FTC under Khan’s leadership has drawn bipartisan support in Congress, but also the ire of some pundits and business leaders. Elahe Izadi sat down with Khan in The Washington Post studio this week for a wide-ranging conversation about Khan’s tenure at the FTC, how the government should be regulating AI, why the FTC is going up against Amazon and what it means to be doing this work in an election year. Today’s show was produced by Peter Bresnan. It was edited by Allison Michaels and mixed by Sean Carter. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.

Today on “Post Reports,” the story of Ashraf Omar Alakhras and his family farm and an exclusive investigation into the destruction of food and agriculture in Gaza. Read more: Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza more than seven months ago, Gaza’s food and agricultural system is on the brink of collapse. Airstrikes and bulldozers have razed farms and orchards across the region, according to a Washington Post investigation comparing satellite imagery before and after the start of the war. Experts say that it could take decades to reconstruct what had already been a vulnerable but dynamic food system. But beyond those satellite images is the story of Ashraf Omar Alakhras and his family’s farm. For months, the Post’s visual forensics reporter, Nilo Tabrizy, has been corresponding with Alakhras about what has happened and what it will take to rebuild. Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Reem Akkad, Peter Finn, Leila Barghouty and Elyse Samuels. Additional reporting from Imogen Piper and Miriam Berger, with help from He Yin of Kent State University. Find The Post’s latest coverage of the Israel-Gaza War here. Subscribe to The Washington Post here.