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  "description": "A former Texas litigator, Baasch has taken on social media companies over content moderation.",
  "path": "/trump-expected-to-name-white-house-economic-aide-ryan-baasch-to-ftc/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-11-01T14:46:55.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "f _ocused on_",
    "_in Sept. 2023_",
    "_this year_",
    "_public comment_",
    "_could exceed_",
    "House Bill 20",
    "i _n 2024_",
    "_told judges_",
    "_a suit_",
    "_a press release_",
    "_data privacy enforcement team_",
    "in March",
    "i _n September_",
    "__Humphrey’s Executor__"
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2025 — The White House’s next pick for the Federal Trade Commission built his reputation in Texas courtrooms, fighting for free speech and challenging what he describes as wrongful censorship by social media platforms.\n\nPresident **Donald Trump** was expected to nominate**Ryan Baasch** , a White House economic policy aide and former Texas associate deputy attorney general, to serve as a Republican commissioner on the FTC, according to a Wednesday report from Bloomberg.\n\nIf confirmed, Baasch would replace Commissioner **Melissa Holyoak** , who was expected to be nominated as U.S. Attorney for Utah. The appointment would preserve a unanimous group of Republicans at the agency, as well as preserving a quorum for agency action.\n\nAt the National Economic Council, Baasch f _ocused on_ technology issues including artificial intelligence, space commercialization, and telecommunications networks.\n\nBefore joining the NEC on January 27, Bausch spent three years in the Texas Attorney General’s Office, where he supervised the office’s offensive civil litigation and maintained a heavy appellate caseload involving First Amendment and technology cases.\n\n### _Critic of social media 'censorship'_\n\nA vocal critic of what he calls Big Tech censorship, Baasch has argued that major online platforms routinely suppress lawful political speech.\n\n“I don’t think its disputed anymore that social media platforms frequently censor truthful speech,” Baasch said during a Federalist Society webinar _in Sept. 2023_.\n\nThe FTC drew similar scrutiny _this year_ when it sought _public comment_ on social media platforms’ content moderation practices, a move First Amendment lawyers warned _could exceed_ the FTC’s authority.\n\nServing as Texas assistant solicitor general in 2022, Baasch defended House Bill 20, a state law which allowed users banned from Facebook, Twitter (now X) or any other large social media platform to sue if they believe they were banned for their political views.\n\nThe law, challenged by social media trade groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, remains tied up in litigation after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a Fifth Circuit ruling and sent the case back for further review i _n 2024_.\n\n“These social media platforms control the modern-day public square, but they abusively suppress speech in that square,” Baasch _told judges_ in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in May 2022, defending the state law.\n\nBaasch also defended Texas AG **Ken Paxton** in _a suit_ against Yelp, in which the state AG was accused of seeking to restrict the company’s free speech rights. In that case, Baasch argued that Texas law grants the state broad authority to act against any conduct that could mislead consumers.\n\n“While at my office, Ryan delivered victory after victory in our fight against government overreach, predatory corporations, and Big Tech censorship,” Paxton said in _a press release_ congratulating Baasch on his appointment to the NEC. “I have no doubt [he] will continue working boldly to make America great.”\n\nDuring his tenure, Baasch launched the state’s _data privacy enforcement team_, which led Texas residents to gaining several key rights over their personal data online.\n\nIf confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Baasch would be confirmed to a seven-year term.\n\n###  _Trump removed Democratic commissioners_\n\nBaasch’s pending appointment comes after Trump’s removal of Democratic commissioners **Rebecca Kelly Slaughter** and **Alvaro Bedoya**in March. The Supreme Court i _n September_ granted Trump’s request to stay a lower court ruling, allowing him to immediately remove the commissioners.\n\nThe Court said it will hear arguments in December on whether to scrap ____Humphrey’s Executor__, the 1935 precedent restricting presidents from firing independent regulators without cause.",
  "title": "Trump Expected to Name White House Economic Aide Ryan Baasch to FTC",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:43:39.184Z"
}