Common Myths

ICYMI: Former FTC Chair & General Counsel — How Unsound Criticisms Of A Grocery Store Chain 80 Years Ago Predicted Arguments Made By Modern-Day Tech Critics

In a recent paper, former FTC chair Timothy J. Muris and former FTC general counsel Jonathan Nuechterlein analyzed tech critics’ arguments against leading tech services within the context of backlash against the leading grocery chain A&P eighty years ago. After vertically integrating, the grocery store chain was once called the “Wal-Mart before Wal-Mart.” Muris and […]

Setting The Record Straight: Data Is Not The New Oil & Other Misconceptions

Last week, Martin Giles published a piece in the MIT Technology Review, “It’s Time To Rein In The Data Barons.” In making his case, Giles fails to note that consumers would have be paid $17,500 a year to give up search, $8,400 a year for maps, and more than $3,600 a year for social media. […]

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Setting The Record Straight: Anti-Facebook Campaign Is “Misguided Political Fervor That Ignores The Economic Facts”

This week, tech critics launched a six-figure ad campaign against Facebook’s supposed monopoly. The Open Markets Institute, who has previously called for the break up of various other successful firms, announced their campaign by purchasing ads on competitors to Facebook’s “monopoly,” which Axios has noted are “running on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Twitter […]

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Setting The Record Straight: 60 Minutes’ Rehash Of Google Critics Misses The Mark

“The ’60 Minutes’ report is largely a rehash of familiar complaints against Google from longstanding opponents. As ’60 Minutes’ reminded viewers: ‘Most people love Google.’ In the U.S., successful antitrust action depends on proving harm to consumers — and that’s been challenging with Google.” That’s from Axios’ Scott Rosenberg. Below are a few things 60 […]

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BEFORE YOU WATCH: Five Facts Ahead Of Tonight’s 60 Minutes Segment On Tech & Competition Policy

This evening, 60 Minutes will air a segment focusing on Google’s critics, who say the company has “stifled competition,” and Europe’s Margrethe Vestager, an “antitrust enforcer who is taking action.” We’ve seen others recycle old arguments pushed by competitors of leading tech services in the past. So before you watch, below are five things you […]

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ICYMI: Four Questions For The Neo-Brandeisian Tech Critics

Daniel Crane, a University of Michigan law professor who focuses and has written six books and more than 60 articles on antitrust policy, recently posed four key questions to those who don’t believe current antitrust law is capable of addressing any competition concerns in the 21st century economy, the so-called Neo-Brandeisians. Highlights below: 1. Is […]

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ICYMI: ICLE’s Manne Takes On The Flaws In Foundem’s Cries For Competitive Intervention

International Center for Law & Economics Executive Director Geoff Manne recently published a detailed look at serial antitrust complainant Foundem, and found their claims of so-called harm critically flawed. Beyond their pleadings for government intervention in competition, the founders of Foundem currently run an anti-Google consultancy, and “this consulting work, some of which was funded […]

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ICYMI: FTC’s Hoffman Warns Overzealous Antitrust Action Could Harm Startups

Speaking in a personal capacity at CCIA’s luncheon panel discussion held during the ABA Antitrust Spring Meetings, Bruce Hoffman, Acting Director of the Bureau of Competition at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), argued current U.S. antitrust law is “the result of decades of experience in the United States with failed standards, such as protecting […]

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What They’re Saying: Hasty Tech Regulations Pose Risks To Consumers, Competition, And Prosperity

As D.C. tech critics propose hypothetical regulations left and right, experts are breaking through the noise to make sure policymakers know the full scope of these regulations’ implications. In particular, economists with focuses ranging from law to technology are reiterating that any regulation needs to be smart, address proven consumer harms, and avoid the collateral […]

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ICYMI: Delrahim Argues Critics Have Failed To Make Evidence-Based Case For New Antitrust Approach

Yesterday, in his keynote speech for the Stigler Center’s Antitrust And Competition Conference, Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division Makan Delrahim said, “Based on my collective experiences over the past 25 years, I believe the antitrust consensus approach is flexible to new business models in digital markets, and that there is no persuasive evidence […]