Open Markets Institute heralds bold action against violations of antitrust and monopoly power in America

WASHINGTON – Open Markets Institute applauds Chairman David Cicilline and the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust’s report and recommendations based on its 17-month investigation of America’s largest tech companies: Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple.

“The Open Markets Institute strongly applauds the House subcommittee’s report. Chairman Cicilline and his colleagues make the stakes absolutely clear. Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple pose an extreme and growing threat to our democracy, to our liberties, and to America's system of competitive capitalism,” said Barry Lynn, executive director at Open Markets Institute and author of the recently published “Liberty from All Masters.” “The subcommittee acted with the utmost professionalism. Their report is based on deep and extensive research, and their recommendations build on traditions of U.S. anti-monopoly law that trace to the Constitution. Every American should be proud of this subcommittee.” 

“This was the most well-run hearing on unaccountable power since the Church Committee in 1975 and the most important hearing on private power since the Pujo Committee's investigation of the ‘money trust’ in 1912 and 1913,” Lynn continued. “We are confident that this report lays a foundation on which the American people can rebuild our democracy and economy in the 21st Century.”

“The subcommittee uncovered irrefutable evidence that Big Tech has used anti-competitive conduct and acquisitions to grow and maintain its monopoly power. By violating the antitrust laws, the platforms harm consumers, entrepreneurs, suppliers, creators, citizens, and workers,” said Sally Hubbard, director of enforcement strategy at Open Markets Institute and author of the forthcoming book, “Monopolies Suck.” “The report offers a path forward, through structural separation that eliminates the platforms’ conflicts of interest, through strengthening the antitrust laws, and through interoperability and nondiscrimination rules, among other reforms. At this turning point for our nation, Congress must act immediately, decisively, and with courage.”  

###

Read Hubbard’s full testimony from the House Judiciary Subcommittee’s hearing here.