Publications
Bloomberg's Naomi Nix reports on how the U.S. House panel conducting an antitrust investigation of technology companies is prepared to issue subpoenas as it begins by focusing on the impact of digital platforms on news media organizations. She also reported that Open Markets Institute Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard has been tapped to testify at the first hearing as a witness.
Read MoreAlexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic writes that Big Tech on the left and right and highlights Open Markets Institute as among the new wave of antitrust scholars.
Read MoreOpen Markets Institute strongly applauds the House Judiciary Committee’s announcement yesterday that it is launching a bipartisan “top-to-bottom” antitrust investigation of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech monopolies.
Read MoreThe New York Times speaks with Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller about antitrust enforcement in the U.S. as the House Judiciary Committee announced an official investigation scrutinizing the tech giants just hours after the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission were reported to be dividing jurisdiction over Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook. Compared to Europe and other regulators around the globe, “Federal enforcers have a lot of catching up to do,” said Miller.
Read MoreAfter years of calling out Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple for abusing their monopoly power, Open Markets is cautiously optimistic that law enforcers finally intend to protect American democracy and American capitalism from these behemoths.
Read MoreThe New York Times speaks to Executive Director Barry Lynn about the storm brewing around Big Tech as the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission divide jurisdiction over the largest corporations to enforce antitrust law. “Until we see what they intend to do, none of this means anything,” said Lynn. “Maybe they are simply blowing smoke so the president gets happy for a moment so they can go back to doing nothing.”
Read MoreIn a recent interview, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg deployed a talking point that other platform monopolists are increasingly using. Don’t break up Facebook, she said, because that will just allow Chinese companies to come in and fill the void. What’s wrong with this argument? It presents a false choice.
Read MoreWelcome to The Corner. In this issue, we discuss the idea that the best way for Americans to counter the power of Chinese tech giants is to accept the concentration of power by corporations like Google and Facebook.
Read MoreThe Open Markets Institute is thrilled that Laura Hatalsky has joined our team as Chief of Staff. Laura will help lead Open Markets’ strategic direction and engagement in the growing anti-monopoly movement.
Read MoreOpen Markets commends Chairman Cicilline’s letter spotlighting the DOJ’s under-the-radar support for tilting the law even further for the benefit of the most powerful corporations.
Read MoreA recent study documenting consolidation and specialization in Alaska’s fisheries over the past three decades illustrates a broader trend taking hold in coastal communities across the country. Catch share programs, a new fisheries management system, are turning fishing rights into tradable commodities, driving up the cost to fish and consolidating fishing rights into the hands of a few wealthy owners.
Read MoreOpen Markets Institute applauds the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh siding with the Federal Trade Commission against Qualcomm in a major antitrust suit.
Read MoreOpen Markets fellow Beth Baltzan testified as a witness to the House Ways & Means Committee on “Enforcement in the New NAFTA.” Her testimony, based in part on a piece she published in the Washington Monthly, pointed to the principles unratified Havana Charter as a solution to global trade. The charter “included rules that guaranteed workers’ rights, provided protections against destructive foreign investor behavior, and required trading nations to abide by anti-monopoly rules.”
Read MoreOpen Markets' fellow Matt Stoller talks to the Observer about what breaking up Facebook would look like. “This isn’t rocket science,” Stoller told Observer. “The government should just hire an investment bank to break up the company. Then regulate the data practices and interoperability so that social networking is a neutral communications platform instead of a predatory one.”
Read MoreIf you are thinking about Facebook or questions of political economy, an important and telling hearing took place recently in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Democratic leaders Frank Pallone and Jan Schakowsky did an oversight review of Facebook’s regulator, the Federal Trade Commission, with all five commissioners, including Chairman Joe Simons, advancing ideas on how to address privacy rules in America today.
Read MoreOpen Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller speaks with Fortune magazine's Luke Johnson about the growing consensus to break-up Facebook amid the debacle facing US regulators in tackling the problems created by big tech. “There has been a consensus built on this incredibly fast, faster than I would have imagined, given how popular Facebook was two or three years ago in Washington,” she told Fortune.
Read MoreIn a 5-4 decision Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that iPhone users could bring a class action lawsuit against Apple alleging that it monopolized the sale of apps. In his surprising majority opinion for the Court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by the four more liberal Justices, reaffirmed antitrust law’s longstanding purpose of protecting the producer of a good or service from the power of monopolies. This was in sharp contrast to most recent practice, in which enforcers and the judiciary have focused largely on harms to consumers.
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