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Competition
As long-time supporters of free markets and free expression, we are troubled to see politicians use the power of government to attack companies for ideological reasons. We believe that existing antitrust law promotes fair competition and provides a framework for analyzing and, where appropriate, prohibiting, harmful conduct.
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In the News
National Petroleum Refiners v FTC: A Tale of Two Opinions
In 1972, a case came before the Hon. Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., a federal trial judge in the District of Columbia, involving the scope of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) regulatory authority. Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act outlaws “unfair methods of competition.” Section 6(g) says that the FTC may “make rules and regulations for the purposes of carrying out” the FTC ...
Corbin K. Barthold
April 27, 2022
Press Release
Revisions to the Merger Guidelines Should Be Incremental
Yesterday, TechFreedom filed comments to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to the agencies’ Request for Information regarding ...
Bilal Sayyed
April 22, 2022
Tech Policy Podcast
#322: Noah Phillips
FTC Commissioner
Commissioner Noah Phillips joins the show for a wide-ranging discussion about the Federal Trade Commission. ...
June 2, 2022
Latest Articles
Podcast
FTC Commissioner
...
June 2, 2022
Letter
Has Congress really thought through its latest antitrust proposals?
Americans should be able to trust that their members of Congress will consider all the implications of the bills they write. On February 2, we wrote the Senate Judiciary Committee two letters warning them that the Open App Markets Act would have serious effects on users’ online experience, privacy, and safety, and recommending amendments that would fix some of the bill’s biggest flaws. In a coalition letter with several civil society organizations, we explained ...
Berin Szóka and Ari Cohn
May 10, 2022
Podcast
Remember FAANG?
In 2017 or so, people started to assert that the FAANG companies—Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google—were unstoppable juggernauts. Lately that claim has taken some hard hits, as Facebook (now Meta) and Netflix, facing stiff competition, have seen their stock prices tumble. Adam Thierer, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, joins the show to discuss how the Schumpeterian “gale of creative destruction” unseats dominant market players, why government antitrust cases so often ...
May 1, 2022
In the News
National Petroleum Refiners v FTC: A Tale of Two Opinions
In 1972, a case came before the Hon. Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., a federal trial judge in the District of Columbia, involving the scope of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) regulatory authority. Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act outlaws “unfair methods of competition.” Section 6(g) says that the FTC may “make rules and regulations for the purposes of carrying out” the FTC Act. What is a “rule or regulation” that helps “carry out” a statute? Does Section 6(g) ...
Corbin K. Barthold
April 27, 2022
Press Release
Revisions to the Merger Guidelines Should Be Incremental
Yesterday, TechFreedom filed comments to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to the agencies’ Request for Information regarding potential revisions to the Horizontal and Vertical Merger Guidelines. TechFreedom’s comments explain that the Merger Guidelines have succeeded in significant part because they do not try to do too much. Rather than complex, lengthy regulations, the Merger Guidelines should provide a flexible and durable framework ...
Bilal Sayyed
April 22, 2022
Article
It’s Official: EU Antitrust Law Isn’t about Consumer Welfare
WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the European Commission announced that it had imposed a record $2.7 billion fine against Alphabet. The EC alleges that Google violated European antitrust law by favoring its own Google Shopping service over rival comparison shopping services. “There can no longer be any doubt: European competition is about protecting some companies against more successful ones, not about protecting consumers,” said Berin Szóka, President of TechFreedom. “The EC doesn’t ...
June 27, 2017
Article
FCC Uses TWC-Charter Merger to Push Unrelated Agenda
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, the Department of Justice approved the merger of Charter and Time Warner Cable, the sixth and third biggest ISPs in America. Today, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reportedly circulated a proposed order approving the transaction, which will likely be voted on sometime between the FCC’s Open Meeting on Thursday and the next meeting on May 25. The combined company will be the second largest cable company, serving 21% of wireline broadband customers (or 30% of customers ...
April 26, 2016
Article
FCC Expands Price Regulation on Business Broadband
WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the FCC proposed to extend price regulation of business broadband services to cable and fiber. The Commission voted on a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (not yet public) that places the commission a step closer to imposing a new regulatory framework for the provision of business data services (a.k.a. special access), proposing burdensome new rules for cable and fiber-based providers and ex ante price regulations for their broadband services. “The ...
April 18, 2016
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