SmarterAnalyst’s Ben Mahaney reports on how Alphabet Inc.’s Google faces an antritust investigation, launched by the State of California. The investigation joins the 50 states and territories on their scrutiny of the tech giant’s control on advertising and internet searches. “We applaud the 50 state attorney generals for taking this unprecedented stand against Big Tech by uniting to investigate Google’s destruction of competition in search and advertising,” said the Open Markets Institute.
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Welcome to The Corner. In this issue, we introduce a groundbreaking study that details how U.S. hospitals fail their communities, as Open Markets’ scholars helped lead the research that produced these surprising and disturbing findings.
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Sally Hubbard, OMI's director of enforcement strategy, told Yahoo News' senior political correspondent how Facebook’s use of algorithms favor post engagement — even if the post contains false information or inflammatory remarks. “The problem is that [Facebook’s algorithm] boosts the hateful content because that is what is most engaging and serves Facebook’s business model. I don’t think you can fix this problem by these little Band-Aids that Facebook has been offering,” she said.
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The Open Markets Institute urges federal enforcers to block Uber’s acquisition of Postmates, which would consolidate the predatory delivery app market from just four dominant players to three, threatening vulnerable restaurants and gig workers already devastated by the pandemic.
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Open Markets Institute Legal Director, Sandeep Vaheesan, published an article in CNN Business about health professional and their maltreatment and harmful working conditions of having the appropriate protective equipment, as well as their punishments for speaking out, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Foreign Policy’s Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman report on the dangers of globalization of the marketplace, warning of systemic fragility and state exploitation. In a call to overhaul the manner in which the global economy operates, Farrell and Newman cite Barry Lynn, OMI’s executive director and founder, for his take on the remodeling of the antitrust.
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Phayul Newsdesk’s Choekyi Lhamo reports on Richard Gere’s appearance before a Senate subcommittee to testify on the effects of censorship from China and mentions Beth Baltzan of Open Markets Institute appearing as a witness.
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Washington, DC – The following is a statement from Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute in regard to Amazon’s planned acquisition of Zoox
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Welcome to The Corner. In this issue, we examine the European Commission’s newly announced investigation into potentially anti-competitive practices by Apple.
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Despite its implementation of new policies, Facebook grapples to maintain the spread of the “boogalo” movement on its platform, The Washington Post reports. The movement, known for its anti-government and anti-law enforcement stance, has continued to trickle into varying Facebook pages and groups, spreading misinformation about the protests as well as encouraging armed violence.
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In the days leading up to the congressional antitrust investigation against big tech, Financial Post highlights the work of Lina Khan, a lawyer whose published article “Amazon’s Anti-trust Paradox” set a precedent for addressing new age monopolies in a digital world. With Khan’s rise to the House anti-trust subcommittee, OMI’s Executive Director Barry Lynn is cited for his past work with Khan on the anti-trust policy unit for New America.
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Sandeep Vaheesan, OMI’s legal director, told BBC News’ Sooraj Shah about the inherent risks in acquisition deals, noting the nuances of an increasing reliance on big tech companies. "All of them will be in the M&A [mergers and acquisitions] game if they're not already. Start-ups are more likely to sell out during the pandemic when they might struggle to meet their obligations and the buyout looks especially attractive - the pandemic is speeding up the buyout date in some cases," says Vaheesan.
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Next TV’s John Eggerton reports on the Banning Microtargeted Political Ads Act, proposed by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), which will work to prohibit varying platforms, sites and ad networks from using data-driven political ads that include disinformation and/or misinformation.
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Welcome to The Corner. In this issue, we examine some of the dangers of the recently approved Schwab-TD Ameritrade merger, address the president’s executive order on Section 230, and highlight our recent conference discussing worker power.
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Bloomberg quotes Barry Lynn, executive director of Open Markets, on rising concentration in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Brandi Collins-Dexter of Color of Change says deleting your Facebook account isn’t enough—the company must be pressured at the top. And right-wing board members “shows you what their intentions really are.”
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Open Markets Legal Director, Sandeep Vaheesan, published an op-ed in Harvard Law Review on June 9, 2020, discussing the need to overcome the most recent antitrust suit brought about in NCAA college basketball in the Ninth Circuit court.
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Open Markets Institute policy analyst, Daniel Hanley, published an academic article where he analyzes the ways in which big tech companies, including Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, engage in anti-competitive behavior as a means of retaining their users — essentially reducing the options for users to seek business elsewhere.
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