Posts tagged July 2019
Report | Libra Basics: What Is Facebook’s Currency Project?

The Open Markets Institute submitted a report to Congress on July 15, 2019 on Facebook’s plans to launch Libra, a global digital currency. Open Markets’ report emphasizes Facebook’s dismal track record on data privacy makes its proposal to launch Libra a dangerous liability at home and abroad and proposes a suite of policy options for Congress to consider. 

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NYT: Fighting Big Tech Makes for Some Uncomfortable Bedfellows

NYT's reporter Nellie Bowles looks into how the right and left have come together to break up big tech writing that "Conservatives are showing up at largely liberal conferences to call for breaking up Facebook and Google. Liberals are going on conservative TV shows to do the same." She talks to Open Markets Senior Fellow Matt Stoller about the shift. “I always knew we were aiming at different things,” Stoller said. “Now, we have some of the same goals.”

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HuffPost: Critics Say Facebook Penalty Is A Slap On The Wrist As Stock Prices Surge

HuffPost's Carla Herreria reports on how "Democrats in Congress are threatening to take action after the FTC reportedly voted on a $5 billion penalty for Facebook’s privacy violations." She reports on the critics of the fine, including citing Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard blasting the fine as "woefully insufficient," and how Facebook's stock valuation only rose with the news of the FTC settlement.

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Yahoo! News: People 'have no clue' how much data Facebook and Google collect, antitrust advocate says

Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy talks to Jon Ward, host of Yahoo's Long Game Podcast on the case for regulating Facebook and Google. “The amount of data that Facebook and Google are collecting about the average person is absolutely insane, massive, widespread, ubiquitous, and I think honestly, a fraud on the American people that the people don't understand that this is happening,” said Hubbard.

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A Win for Cheap Alcohol, a Loss for Democracy

Legal Director Sandeep Vaheesan blasts the Supreme Court’s decision in Tennessee Wine and Spirits Retailers Association v. Thomas arguing that the decision nullifies the 21st Amendment’s will that states control their alcohol market, and paves the way for monopolistic retail corporations such as Amazon and Walmart to overrun the markets for beer, wine, and spirits.

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New Data Shows Walmart’s Dominance in Local Grocery Markets

Walmart sells 50 percent or more of all groceries in one in every ten metropolitan areas and nearly one in three “micropolitan” areas across the country, according to a report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, out last week. In 38 of these regions, Walmart sells 70 percent or more of all groceries.

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CNBC: After years of big spending, tech's political machine turns to high gear

NBC News speaks with Open Markets Senior Fellow Matthew Stoller on the reaction of think tanks and advocacy groups backed by big tech to Senator Josh Hawley's proposed legislation aimed at the Silicon Valley giants. Stoller said last time he “saw this kind of collective temper tantrum by all their trade groups was" during the legislative battle over a pair of bills aimed at curtailing sex trafficking online, which altered Section 230.

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