“We applaud the 50 attorneys general for taking this unprecedented stand against Big Tech by uniting to investigate Google’s destruction of competition in search and advertising,” said Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy in a statement. “Today’s announcement marks the start of a new era.”
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Salon’s Andrew Germanos reports on the multistate probe targetings Facebook’s antitrust violations. She sites a statement issued by Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller.
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NBC News reports that many companies have cozied up to the nation’s capitol, but none have accrued the kind of reach and presence that Amazon will soon boast. Open Markets fellow Matt Stoller weighs in.
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"This morning's announcement is a major step forward in the broadening effort on the part of our democratic institutions to address Facebook's monopoly power," said Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller in a statement today.
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Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard speaks with The Telegraph about what a big tech probe by the U.S. attorneys general would mean and how the law could be leveraged against Google. Any upcoming probe into Google would also rely on the Sherman Act, and proving that the search giant has both “monopoly power and exclusionary conduct” says Hubbard.
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Welcome to The Corner. In this issue, we discuss problems that the Big Four accounting firms pose and share a feature magazine piece on Open Markets.
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The FTC could do more to punish companies like Google and Facebook over privacy violations. But the bigger problem is that Congress continues to do nothing at all. "Often the problem with privacy issues is that the FTC's authority is limited, but here the FTC's authority under COPPA is ample," says Sally Hubbard, director of strategic enforcement at the nonprofit Open Markets Institute told WIRED.
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"The FTC has shown time and again that it is unwilling to stand up to corporate monopolies despite some window-dressing type announcements," said Open Markets Chief of Staff Laura Hatalsky in a statement.
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POLITICO's Nancy Scola and Margaret Harding McGill report that U.S. news companies are using a playbook from Europe to challenge the online platforms they see as an existential threat. They speak to Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard who says "I think the bargaining power between any individual publisher and a tech platform is just too vast.”
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"When a founding father of the information industry calls for breaking the monopoly power of big tech it means the time has come for the government to act," says Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn in a statement.
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Claire Kelloway writes in Food & Power about how the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is investigating whether or not Amazon’s Los Angeles location meets state qualifications for a liquor store.
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Open Markets Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan published an article in the Maryland Law Review on how antitrust law protected capital and punished labor in the original Gilded Age and in the second Gilded Age in which we live. Although the specific doctrines and rules today are different than they were a century ago, antitrust is once again doing little to check corporate domination of markets and also preventing a significant fraction of the labor force from organizing.
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Jalopnik reporters Dhruv Mehrotra and Aaron Gordon publish an investigation showing just how much money Uber and Lyft take from their drivers. They speak to Open Markets Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan who told them: “This is really fascinating and troubling,” Vaheesan went on to say the findings “support the argument that their business model is built on large scale labor exploitation.”
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Bloomberg reporters John Gittelsohn and Gerrit De Vynck reports on how CapitalG, a private investment arm of Alphabet has been in all the right places lately, generating billions of dollars in gains. The success is raising questions about the company’s strategy and sprawling influence over the technology industry. They speak with Open Markets Senior Fellow Matt Stoller who told them: “Deal flow gives you a lot of insight into what other people are doing in the market.”
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Benefits Pro reporter Scott Woolridge reports that the consolidation of market share in health-related industries has happened largely under the radar. He cites Open Markets' American Concentration Crisis report and interviews Executive Director Barry Lynn on how consolidation is impacting every day Americans. “This stuff could be fixed by the DOJ and the FTC tomorrow,” he says. “There is an ample amount of power in federal and state governments to address this, it’s just not being used.”
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Sandeep Vaheesan Calls for Building Worker, Small Business Power and Criticizes Abusive Contracts – Kochland Author Chris Leonard Talks Koch Brothers, Corporate Power
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Open Markets Institute interviews Christopher Leonard, author of 'Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America.' Leonard talks about the story of the Koch family and what it says about corporate power.
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