Tony Romm of The Washington Post reports on the federal investigation of Facebook’s antitrust violations and quotes Sally Hubbard, director of enforcement strategy at Open Markets Institute, opposing Facebook’s talk of integrating Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
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On Yahoo Finance, Roger Parloff tells the story of how America has come to a turning point in its views of antitrust. He tracks the origins of the progressive neo-Brandesian movement and how key figures have played leading roles in igniting the Big Tech antitrust backlash in Washington including Tim Wu, Barry Lynn, Lina Khan, Matt Stoller, and Luther Lowe. Parloff quotes Former FTC chair William E. Kovacic who commented: "In five years, Barry and his group have changed the debate. They’ve gone from being a largely unnoticed fringe body of commentary to being at the very center of the debate.”
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The New York Times' Cecilia Kang and David McCabe report that California said Facebook had resisted or ignored dozens of requests for documents and internal correspondence about the company’s handling of personal data. Sarah Miller, the deputy director of the Open Markets Institute, one of the groups that asked to speak with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, expressed hopefulness that Mr. Becerra would join the antitrust investigations into the tech companies.
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Last Friday, Facebook announced Facebook News, a tab for personalized news articles on the Facebook App. The feature includes content from 200 publishers, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, and BuzzFeed, some of which Facebook will pay licensing rights to. Each user’s News tab will include a compilation of articles chosen by professional journalists and tailored content based on predicting user’s interests.
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New York Time's David McCabe writes that Attorney General Xavier Becerra is in Google and Facebook’s backyard. But unlike nearly all other state attorneys general, he won’t say whether he’s investigating them. McCabe reports that on Oct. 1, eight groups who have advocated more aggressive scrutiny of companies like Facebook and Google wrote to Mr. Becerra asking to discuss their concerns with him. Sarah Miller, the deputy director of one group, the Open Markets Institute, said they wanted “to offer to share our views, to hear his views and to help brief or provide educational support.”
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On October 17, 2019, Open Markets Executive Director Barry Lynn testified before the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee on 'The Nature of the Threats Posed by Platform Monopolists to Democracy, Liberty, and Individual Enterprise.’
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Watch the full show from 10/23/2019.
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Jessica Corbet writes that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has elevated broader concerns about how powerful tech giants are "poisoning the well of our democracy." She cites Open Markets Fellow Matt Stoller's op-ed on the New York Times on how tech companies are destroying democracy.
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The Guardian's Lauren Gambino speaks to Open Markets Deputy Director Sarah Miller about Facebook being put under the gun of antitrust scrutiny and reports on Elizabeth Warren and Mark Zuckerberg facing off over big tech and its influence over our lives. “They’re begging for regulation because they know they game it," Miller told The Guardian. "They know they can shape it, they know they can avoid it and they know that it will likely inhibit their competitors who won’t have the same resources. But, more than anything, they do not want to be broken up.”
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POLITICO's Nancy Scola covers October's Democratic Debate and reports that former Vice President Joe Biden "was the quietest person on stage on the question of how to handle Silicon Valley." She speaks with Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard who said of the antitrust portion of the debate “People are understanding that it’s not just some technocratic, boring area. It’s fundamentally about equality and freedom, the American way, the American dream. It’s at the heart of capitalism and what we think of core American values.”
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In this op-ed for the New York Times, Open Markets Fellow Matt Stoller spotlights how advertising revenue that used to go to quality journalism is now captured by big tech intermediaries, and some of that money now goes to dishonest, low-quality and fraudulent content. "The collapse of journalism and democracy in the face of the internet is not inevitable," he argues. "To save democracy and the free press, we must eliminate Google and Facebook’s control over the information commons."
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AP's Marcy Gordon covers a speech Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made at Georgetown University on "free speech." Reporters were not allowed to ask questions — only students were given that chance, filtered by a moderator. Facebook and Georgetown barred news organizations from filming, Gordon reports. Open Markets Director of Enforcement Strategy Sally Hubbard told the AP: “It’s quite ironic.”
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Uber, Facebook, and Google are increasingly behaving like the law-flouting financial empires of the 1920s, asserts Open Markets Fellow Matt Stoller. We know how that turned out. "The rule of law is a precious political achievement of liberal democracy," Stoller writes. "It doesn’t just happen. We the people, along with elected public servants, have to make it happen. "
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AP's Barbara Ortutay reports on how Facebook's Libra project has been battered by defections with the exit of PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, eBay, and Stripe. Sarah Miller, deputy director of Open Markets Institute, told the AP it was “insanity” to trust Facebook to launch a global cryptocurrency when it is already facing regulatory scrutiny around the world over data privacy.
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Open Markets Senior Fellow Matt Stoller publishes an adapted excerpt of his book "Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy" on the Wall Street Journal. He asserts the loudest complaints against today’s monopolies come not from Occupy Wall Street types but from leaders of firms seeking freedom of commerce.
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POLITICO's Steve Overly reports that investigations from state attorneys general and federal agencies are causing a rift between free market conservatives and the party's more populist voices. He talks to Open Markets fellow Matt Stoller about the tech industry's waning influence. “People aren't afraid of them anymore" said Stoller. "It’s not that they don’t have power, they do have power. They don't carry the same level of fear."
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"That PayPal has woken up to the dangers Libra poses to democracy, and has chosen to leave the project, is enough of a signal that the remaining consortium partners should do the same and walk away," said Open Markets Chief of Staff Laura Hatalsky in a statement.
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