Posts tagged 2026
Open Markets Institute Applauds EU Move to Stop Meta from Gatekeeping AI on WhatsApp

The European Commission announced a preliminary finding that Meta may have abused its dominant position by excluding third-party AI assistants from WhatsApp. The Commission intends to impose interim measures to prevent serious and irreparable damage to competition. Such measures could include Meta being forced to open WhatsApp to third-party AI assistants. Max von Thun, Director of Europe & Transatlantic Partnerships at the Open Markets Institute, released a following statement.

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European Commission’s Preliminary Finding Against TikTok Is a Landmark Moment for Platform Accountability

The Open Markets Institute released a statement led by Max von Thun, Director of Europe & Transatlantic Partnership a preliminary finding that TikTok’s platform design contributes to addictive use and may violate the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) requiring TikTok to fundamentally change to its business model, including disabling addictive features such as “infinite scroll”. 

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Amicus Brief Urges Third Circuit to Correct Misinterpretation of Clayton Act Provision on Exclusive Dealing 

The Open Markets Institute filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Reading Hospital v. Hill-Rom Holdings, a case concerning the monopolistic manufacturer of hospital beds using exclusive dealing with health systems to perpetuate its dominance.

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Democracy Journal - Rethinking State Capacity

In this co-written essay, legal director Sandeep Vaheesan and chief economist Brian Callaci deliver the argument that today’s “state capacity” discourse wrongly blames democratic procedures for government failure, when the real solution is not deregulated, top-down speed but renewed democratic governance that balances effective state action with public participation and legitimacy.

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Open Markets Urges European Commission to Investigate Google’s Wiz Acquisition on Cloud Monopoly Concerns

Open Markets Institute, alongside partner organisations Article 19, the Balanced Economy Project and SOMO, made a detailed submission to the European Commission urging officials to open an in-depth investigation into Google’s proposed acquisition of the cloud security firm Wiz.

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The Guardian - Netflix and Paramount deals are both wrong for Warner Bros Discovery – and democracy

CJL director Courtney Radsch contends that both the Netflix and Paramount–Skydance bids for Warner Bros. Discovery would deepen media concentration in ways that endanger free speech, audience choice, and democracy by placing cultural storytelling and news under the control of conglomerates willing to bend to political pressure.

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Tech Policy Press - Google’s Wiz Deal Could Become a Trojan Horse in Europe’s Cloud

Europe research fellow Claire Lavin co-wrote an article arguing that Google’s proposed $32 billion acquisition of Wiz would dangerously concentrate control over Europe’s cloud security infrastructure in the hands of a U.S. tech gatekeeper, threatening competition, data governance, and digital sovereignty—and must be rigorously investigated and potentially blocked by EU regulators.

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Open Markets Submits Testimony in House Judiciary Subcommittee’s Streaming Services Antitrust Hearing

Open Markets submitted submitted written testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust with regard to its January 7th hearing, "Full Stream Ahead: Competition and Consumer Choice in Digital Streaming,” concerning Netflix’s proposal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

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Tech Policy Press - The Battle for Cognitive Liberty in the Age of Corporate AI

CJL director Courtney Radsch argues that today’s AI systems—shaped by market concentration, surveillance-based business models, and weak regulation—are evolving into an infrastructure of cognitive control that threatens freedom of thought, human agency, and democracy unless firm legal, structural, and human-rights–based constraints are imposed.

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Washington Monthly - Don’t Let Independent Media Die

Policy director Phil Longman warns that unchecked Big Tech and AI monopolies are rapidly undermining the economic foundations of a free press and urges urgent public support for policy-focused journalism, like the Washington Monthly, as essential to preserving democracy and meaningful freedom of speech.

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