Regulation and Antitrust

Please join ITIF for an expert discussion about the merits and implications of the FTC’s landmark challenge to Amazon.

The proposal to use a 10-year time frame that does not exempt acquisitions of entities with annual net sales or total assets over $10 million is not only vitiated by an ill-founded concern about underenforcement of killer acquisitions in fast-moving technology markets, but would place additional burdens on parties complying with the HSR Act that are not justified by their informational value to agencies.

There is no evidence that breaking up big online platforms will improve digital privacy, but there is overwhelming evidence that breaking up these services or restricting them from collecting user data will harm consumers and workers.

United States v. Google represents the most significant challenge to a large technology company on the grounds that it abused a monopoly position since the seminal United States v. Microsoft.

Not only are the proposed concentration thresholds in irreconcilable tension with the economic evidence surrounding the relationship between market structure and innovation, but established antitrust law counsels against the use of a structural presumption to satisfy the government’s prima facie burden in markets characterized by Schumpeterian competition.

The FTC’s likely solutions to Amazon's alleged anticompetitive behavior would come at the expense of convenience, a wider selection of products, fast delivery, lower prices, and valuable features.

The AI industry is emerging and evolving rapidly, and neither the FTC nor the DOJ has been able to point to any evidence of anticompetitive behavior. Rather than invent or speculate about problems that do not exist, competition regulations should allow the AI industry to continue to develop new and innovative products without unwarranted restrictions.

The United States could regain its position as a global leader on digital policy by prioritizing a pro-innovation agenda, cooperating with its allies to advance free trade and democratic values, and pushing back against harmful narratives and policies.

Rob Atkinson speaks at the Reason Foundation on what we’ve learned in recent antitrust debates and where we go from here.

A new White House report insinuates that small firms are America’s true innovators. Advancing this narrative makes it easier to advance an anticorporate antitrust agenda, including banning all mergers. However, scholarly studies and data do not support the administration’s premise.