Consumers get forgotten in all the politics. The best way to protect consumers is to protect an open, competitive market process, in which companies succeed or fail based not on their political connections or ideological correctness, but on how well they serve consumers.
Antitrust regulation’s problems are structural and incurable. The Competitive Enterprise Institutes advocates abolishing antitrust law, removing remaining government monopolies, and preventing the creation of new ones.
Featured Posts
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Big tech, antitrust, and the courts with Patrick Hedger
In this week’s episode we cover the DOGE effort to reform government spending, review survey results about US transportation choices, and…
Blog
Fred Smith and the Hourglass of Market Evolution
Our much–loved CEI founder Fred L. Smith Jr. would often insist that we not refer merely to antitrust or antitrust policy, but…
Blog
New CEI video: The case for big and small business in America
Some questions don’t have a correct answer. For example: What is the right size for a business? A new CEI video and website…
Search Posts
News Release
Laws to Limit Section 230 Protections Would Lead to More Government Oversight of Speech
Large technology companies were the focus of multiple proceedings in Congress today, including a markup of a bill to change Section 230 of the Communications…
Study
Repeal #NeverNeeded Antitrust Laws that Hinder COVID-19 Response
Big technology firms have been invaluable in easing the burden of quarantine for millions of consumers[1] and businesses.[2] Unfortunately, the Department of Justice, the Federal…
Blog
New Paper: Antitrust Regulation is #NeverNeeded
My colleague Jessica Melugin and I, along with our former colleague Patrick Hedger, have a new paper out today, “Repeal #NeverNeeded Antitrust Laws that…
News Release
DOJ-Recommended Changes to Section 230 Would Lead to More Moderation of Conservative Speech
The Department of Justice today asked Congress to make changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a provision that protects any website from…
News Release
Antitrust Investigations against Tech Threaten to Hamper Pandemic Response and Recovery
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report today arguing that large technology companies are making invaluable contributions to our quality of life…
Products
Repeal #NeverNeeded Antitrust Laws that Hinder COVID-19 Response
View Full Document as PDF Big technology firms have been invaluable in easing the burden of quarantine for millions of consumers…
Bloomberg Law
Fortnite Creator Epic’s Battle With Tech Giants Could Harm Consumers
If you have middle school-aged children or older, chances are you’ve heard of Fortnite, an online multi-player game, created by Epic Games Inc., that allows users…
News Release
Antitrust Claims Against Google Ad Platform Fail to Meet Consumer Harm Standard
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing later today claiming to look into antitrust concerns related to Google’s online advertising platform. Associate…
Study
Terrible Tech 2.0
View Full Document as PDF Executive Summary If you are looking for bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., the technology policy sector may be your…
Duluth News Tribune
Jones Act Draws Critics, Defenders: Battle Lines Are Forming as the Merchant Marine Act Marks its Centennial
The Duluth News Tribune references CEI senior fellow Mario Loyola’s writing on the Jones Act: Mario Loyola, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute,…
National Review
House Antitrust Hearing Discusses Everything but Antitrust Law
In Wednesday’s antitrust hearing with the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, questions from liberal members of Congress laid the groundwork for expanding the…
Blog
Observations from the Tech Antitrust Hearing
This post collects some observations from yesterday’s lengthy House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law hearings with the chief executives of Amazon,…
Blog
Tech Antitrust Hearing as Political Theater
Large, innovative tech companies have been invaluable during the COVID-19 crisis, helping to ease the burden of millions of Americans and businesses under quarantine. But…
News Release
House Hearing with Big Tech Companies Unwarranted on Antitrust Grounds
The Subcommittee on Antitrust, Administrative and Commercial Law of the House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday noon on ““Online Platforms and Market Power,…
Forbes
Antitrust Showdown In Congress: Big Tech, Meet Big Government
There’s a contradiction in the Trump, and by extension Republican, deregulatory agenda that could inadvertently threaten the recovery of an already wavering economy. That aberration…
Blog
Antitrust Tech Hearing Unlikely to Prove Useful
Monday’s upcoming House Antitrust Subcommittee hearing featuring CEOs from Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple may turn out to have very little to do with antitrust.
The Washington Examiner
Congress is Dragging Jeff Bezos to the Hill to Explain a Routine Business Strategy
Alongside his fellow Big Tech CEOs, Jeff Bezos will appear before the House Judiciary Committee next Monday to testify about Amazon Marketplace’s business practices with…
Blog
New #NeverNeeded Paper: Price Gouging
Massive shortages happened almost instantly when it became clear that the coronavirus would require a nationwide lockdown. Both Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and an Amazon…
Blog
How Narrowly Are We Going to Define Markets for Tech Antitrust?
One of the key points of contention in any antitrust analysis is defining the scope of the market in question. Ignoring existing competitors by narrowing…
News Release
CEI Opposes EARN IT Act
The Senate Judiciary Committee today will mark up S. 3398, the EARN IT Act, a bill that would condition Section 230 protections for tech companies…
News Release
Congress Should Take Net Neutrality Regulations Off the Table Permanently to Aid Economic Recovery
Proponents of net neutrality regulations promised dire consequences for Internet user experience if the Obama-era rules were repealed, but time has shown their predictions to…
Study
Take Net Neutrality Regulations off the Table for Good
Congress should eliminate the looming threat of net neutrality regulations to Internet service providers (ISPs). Regulation deters investment and the coronavirus health crisis has revealed…
Blog
Is Apple a Bad Antitrust Apple?
The European Union announced last week that it is pursuing two antitrust probes against the tech giant. EU authorities are investigating whether Apple violated European…
The Bulwark
The GOP Section 230 Strategy Will Benefit Trump and Only Trump
By now most people will have seen various Republican politicians, including President Trump, lash out at tech giants in one way or another. The attacks…
Washington Examiner
William Barr Wading Into Dangerous Territory with Possible Support for Anti-Tech Regulation
Last month, Attorney General William Barr said, “valid questions have been raised on whether Section 230’s broad immunity is still necessary, at least in its current…
The American Conservative
Embracing The Idea Of Unregulated Fake News Everywhere
Recently a controversy arose over a CBS News shot of a supposed line for coronavirus testing that turned out to include staged medical staff posing…
News Release
Congress Has a Duty to Protect Bias, ‘Harmful Content,’ and Dissident Speech Online
Last week, President Trump signed an Executive Order intended to pave the way for regulation of speech on social media and reinterpreting a provision of…
Study
The Case against Social Media Content Regulation
As repeatedly noted by most defenders of free speech, expressing popular opinions never needs protection. Rather, it is the commitment to protecting dissident expression that…
News Release
Executive Order Compelling Private, Online Platforms to Host Speech is Unconstitutional
President Trump today announced his intention to sign an Executive Order aimed at compelling companies that own private online platforms to host speech against their…
News Release
Attempts by the Right and Left to use Government to Regulate Speech on Social Media are Unconstitutional
President Trump recently called for the Administration to create a panel to investigate claims of bias against conservatives on the part of social media companies.
Blog
Time for a Federal Price Gouging Law?
Amazon’s vice president of public policy calls for a federal price gouging law in a recent post over at Amazon’s in-house blog. This is a…
Blog
Antitrust Investigation of Amazon Won’t Benefit Consumers
Launching another antitrust investigation into Amazon won’t benefit consumers. The U.S. antitrust law standard is consumer harm. To stretch antitrust investigations to include data, privacy,…
Blog
Market Dynamics Will Force Zoom to Reform Faster and More effectively than Government Regulation
The videoconferencing service Zoom recently ran into some privacy concerns with leaked videos and hacked online meetings. Reaction has been swift and flawed from many…
Forbes
How The White House “Guidance For Regulation of Artificial Intelligence” Invites Overregulation
Excessive top-down federal funding and governance of scientific and technology research will be increasingly incompatible with a future of lightly regulated science and technology specifically, and with…
Blog
Antitrust Policy #NeverNeeded and Dangerous in a Crisis
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission will now allow some collaboration between companies to address the corona virus health threat. They also warned a…
Blog
VIDEO: Reforming Antitrust for Global Competitiveness
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation recently hosted its latest virtual event, “Reforming Antitrust Policy for an Era of Global Competitiveness.” ITIF President Rob Atkinson…
Blog
Big-Mouth CEOs Less of a Threat than Crusading Politicians
Free-market advocates are understandably skeptical of “stakeholder” capitalism—the idea that corporate managers should focus not just on returns to shareholders, but on pleasing a potentially…
Blog
Regulatory Hurdles Already Impeding Competition to Big Tech
Calls to regulate “big tech” firms continue to grow louder. Concerns range from the ability of these firms to influence the political landscape to allegations…
Forbes
We’re Not Biased, We’re Liberals: How Cultural Leftism Will Slant Social Media Regulation
As debates over bias, harm, misinformation and election interference on social media unfold, it will be interesting to watch whether or not mainstream media opposes…
Blog
Amazon Documentary Shows How Consumers Benefit
PBS’s Frontline aired its documentary, “Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos,” last night. While the tone of the piece was markedly suspicious,…
Forbes
We’re Not Biased, We’re Liberals: How Cultural Leftism Will Slant Social Media Regulation
“Water? What’s water?” —The fish As debates over bias, harm, misinformation and election interference on social media unfold, it will be interesting to…
Blog
Antitrust Enforcement in 4-D
Competition is an ongoing discovery process. The reason firms exist is not to enable or restrict competition. It is to reduce transaction costs. There is…
Blog
How Antitrust Intervention Backfires
Antitrust policy interventions into the market rarely work as intended.
Forbes
Deepfakes and Beyond: Who Wins if Social Media Platforms are Regulated?
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone except you and people you agree with would just STFU? Attributed indirectly to Voltaire, the sentiment “I disapprove of…
C-Span
VIDEO: Patrick Hedger Discusses Efforts to Regulate “Big Tech”
Research Fellow Patrick Hedger joins C-Span to discuss efforts to regulate “big tech” companies.
Blog
Proposed iHeart Media Acquisition Threatened by Antitrust Regulation
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Liberty Media Corp, which already owns Sirius XM satellite radio, including its Pandora streaming service, and 33% of…
News Release
CEI’s Consistent Opposition to Government Regulation Protects Consumers
Last night, television entertainer Tucker Carlson aired a segment attacking CEI and other free-market groups for opposition to using government power to intervene in markets…
Blog
Department of Justice Wrong to Block Sabre Acquisition of Farelogix
On January 27th, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) will attempt to block travel technology company Sabre Corporation from purchasing communications protocol innovator Farelogix, Inc. This will be the…
Forbes
How Regulation of “Harmful Speech” Online Will Do the Real Harm
Much of the debate over online speech concerns whether or not conservatives are “censored” by big tech. But there are bigger fish to fry.
Blog
Attorneys General Shouldn’t Hold Mergers Hostage
Last week the attorneys general of Texas and Nevada announced the withdrawal of their support of a multistate lawsuit to block the merger of cellular telephone…
Staff & Scholars
Richard Morrison
Senior Fellow
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Capitalism and Free Enterprise
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Jessica Melugin
Director of the Center for Technology & Innovation
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Media, Speech and Internet Freedoms
Alex Reinauer
Research Fellow
- Antitrust
- Innovation
- Tech and Telecom
