The FTC used Keystone Strategy's Cristina Caffarra,"a global thought leader in competition economics," for advice in connection to an antitrust case brought against Facebook's parent company Meta that the agency decided not to pursue in February. Caffarra also was an adviser"within the last three years" to ByteDance, which has come under heightened scrutiny from lawmakers following reports it spied on American journalists.
Caffarra"had a role advising the FTC in Meta/Within," according to a footnote in a June article she co-authored. The footnote was in reference to the FTC's dropped case initiated last July taking issue with Meta's proposed merger with the virtual reality gaming company Within Unlimited due to monopoly concerns, court records show.
"I was involved in a CRA piece of work for Bytedance, not TikTok, outside the U.S., years ago before leaving CRA and before doing anything with the FTC," she said."TikTok and Bytedance are not a client of myself or Keystone." ByteDance and TikTok in 2023 have dramatically escalated U.S. lobbying, which is led by a team of former lawmakers and top congressional staffers, the Washington Examiner reported. TikTok lobbyists have also repeatedly scored visits to Biden's White House, disclosures show.