In case you missed the latest FTC hearings on competition and consumer welfare, we’ve amassed the 7 best highlights from experts. Quotes are below with the video linked. 1. Josh Wright, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School: Compared to the E.U., the U.S. relies on empirical evidence of actual harm, not suspicion over potential harm. […]
Ahead of today’s hearings that will cover tech platforms and political voice, it’s essential to note that plenty of social media, text, and voice applications exist, and consumers use multiple to communicate on a daily basis. They get news from a variety of on-and-offline sources. Choice and competition are hallmarks of the tech sector, with […]
In his letter today to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) asked the FTC to look into Google’s search practices. However, the facts haven’t changed since the FTC closed a comprehensive antitrust investigation in 2013. —The FTC found Google’s search practices were pro-consumer, and today search is even more competitive, see our backgrounder […]
As legal proceedings begin in the U.S. Justice Department’s case against the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger, cries of “duopoly” against leading tech services continue to be raised despite clear examples of competitors repeatedly building innovative products and partnerships to expand their advertising reach. An Analysys Mason report notes: “Ultimately, online and TV players are experimenting […]
In its latest forecast, research company eMarketer has predicted that leading tech services’ shares of the digital advertising space will decline this year for the first time, while overall digital ad spending in the country will grow. Leading tech services have an even smaller share of the global advertising market (of which digital isn’t even […]
Today, Representative David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced a bill exempting news publishers from antitrust enforcement, allowing them to form a cartel over content distribution. In response, Computer & Communications Industry Association President & CEO Ed Black said: “Curtailing antitrust laws to allow competitors to collude would be harmful to consumers. Dynamic, innovative, and competitive companies can […]
Last Friday, Bloomberg Quint’s profile of News Corp CEO Robert Thomson highlighted the campaign against America’s leading tech companies by a company that also competes with them. News Corp’s new platform, News IQ, was launched last year and boasts an audience of over 140 million. We’ve said tongue-in-cheek that the tech competition policy debate often […]
The online publishers’ association Digital Content Next “Distributed Content Revenue Benchmark” report paints a skewed image of the value leading tech services provide to publishers by misrepresenting that Google and Facebook pay just 5 percent of revenues to DCN members. Four issues stand out most, including two misleading headline statistics. First, there is a lot of […]
Yesterday in The Intercept, in reference to America’s leading technology services, columnist David Dayen advocated for “breaking the companies up and/or turning them into public utilities,” and argued the FTC is refusing to take action after overruling its economists in the past. Dayen is wrong on both counts. First, not only does Dayen ignore low […]
Hostility to innovation and technology diminishes the incredible Internet-enabled opportunities that leading tech services provide: empowering consumers, driving prices down and increasing choice, and providing platforms to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. It has given us a golden era of entertainment, knowledge, and everything from fashion startups, to booming mom and pop stores, to the latest app.
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