Showing archive for: “News & Social Media”
Biweekly FTC Roundup: Bureau of Let’s-Sue-Meta Edition
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) might soon be charging rent to Meta Inc. The commission earlier this week issued (bear with me) an “Order to Show Cause why the Commission should not modify its Decision and Order, In the Matter of Facebook, Inc., Docket No. C-4365 (July 27, 2012), as modified by Order Modifying Prior Decision and Order, In ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: Bureau of Let’s-Sue-Meta Edition
Your Definitive End-of-Year Global Tech Regulation Wrap-Up: Who’s Doing What, Where, and What to Make of It
As 2023 draws to a close, we wanted to reflect on a year that saw jurisdictions around the world proposing, debating, and (occasionally) enacting digital regulations. Some of these initiatives amended existing ex-post competition laws. Others were more ambitious, contemplating entirely new regulatory regimes from the ground up. With everything going on, it can be ... Your Definitive End-of-Year Global Tech Regulation Wrap-Up: Who’s Doing What, Where, and What to Make of It
Biweekly FTC Roundup: Grail-Shaped Beacon Edition
The lame duck is not yet dead, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is supposed to be an independent agency. Work continues. The Commission has announced a partly open oral argument in the Illumina-Grail matter. That is, parts of the argument will be open to the public, via webcast, and parts won’t. This is what’s ... Biweekly FTC Roundup: Grail-Shaped Beacon Edition
FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Reform Dies in Committee Edition
Welcome back to the FTC UMC Roundup! The Senate is back in session and bills are dying. FTC is holding hearings and faith in the agency is dying. The more things change the more they stay the same. Which is a fancy way of saying that despite all the talk of change, little change seems ... FTC Biweekly UMC Roundup – Reform Dies in Committee Edition
New Frontiers of Fairness: Auto Da Fé by the Grand Inquisitor of Economics
July 26, 10 A.F. (after fairness) Dear Fellow Inquisitors, It has been more than a decade now since the Federal Neutrality Commission, born of the ashes of the old world, ushered in the Age of Fairness. As you all know, the FNC was created during the Online Era, when the emergence of the largest companies ... New Frontiers of Fairness: Auto Da Fé by the Grand Inquisitor of Economics
The Market Challenge to Populist Antitrust
The wave of populist antitrust that has been embraced by regulators and legislators in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and other jurisdictions rests on the assumption that currently dominant platforms occupy entrenched positions that only government intervention can dislodge. Following this view, Facebook will forever dominate social networking, Amazon will forever dominate cloud ... The Market Challenge to Populist Antitrust
The ABA’s Antitrust Law Section Sounds the Alarm on Klobuchar-Grassley
Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)—cosponsors of the American Innovation Online and Choice Act, which seeks to “rein in” tech companies like Apple, Google, Meta, and Amazon—contend that “everyone acknowledges the problems posed by dominant online platforms.” In their framing, it is simply an acknowledged fact that U.S. antitrust law has not kept ... The ABA’s Antitrust Law Section Sounds the Alarm on Klobuchar-Grassley
Does the Market Know Something the FTC Doesn’t?
During the exceptional rise in stock-market valuations from March 2020 to January 2022, both equity investors and antitrust regulators have implicitly agreed that so-called “Big Tech” firms enjoyed unbeatable competitive advantages as gatekeepers with largely unmitigated power over the digital ecosystem. Investors bid up the value of tech stocks to exceptional levels, anticipating no competitive ... Does the Market Know Something the FTC Doesn’t?
Merger Control’s Misaligned Incentives
Antitrust policymakers around the world have taken a page out of the Silicon Valley playbook and decided to “move fast and break things.” While the slogan is certainly catchy, applying it to the policymaking world is unfortunate and, ultimately, threatens to harm consumers. Several antitrust authorities in recent months have announced their intention to block ... Merger Control’s Misaligned Incentives
Online Display Advertising: What’s the relevant market?
Digital advertising is the economic backbone of the Internet. It allows websites and apps to monetize their userbase without having to charge them fees, while the emergence of targeted ads allows this to be accomplished affordably and with less wasted time wasted. This advertising is facilitated by intermediaries using the “adtech stack,” through which advertisers ... Online Display Advertising: What’s the relevant market?
The Klobuchar Bill’s Not-So-Bright Lines for Antitrust Scrutiny
In a recent op-ed, Robert Bork Jr. laments the Biden administration’s drive to jettison the Consumer Welfare Standard that has formed nearly half a century of antitrust jurisprudence. The move can be seen in the near-revolution at the Federal Trade Commission, in the president’s executive order on competition enforcement, and in several of the major ... The Klobuchar Bill’s Not-So-Bright Lines for Antitrust Scrutiny
Antitrust Statutorification
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since my book was published last year. To close this symposium, I thought I would discuss the new phase of antirust statutorification taking place before our eyes. In the United States, Congress is working on five antitrust bills that propose to subject platforms to stringent obligations, ... Antitrust Statutorification
