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
DOJ’s proposed antitrust remedies against Google are a bridge too far
In early August 2024, Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia found that Google illegally maintained a search…
Blog
Trump’s deregulation shines, but tariffs and antitrust cloud the scene
The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) this month released a new report on the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback efforts. Titled “The Economic…
Blog
Congress should overturn harmful anti-bank merger regulation
Yesterday, the Senate approved a resolution pursuant to the Congressional Review Act to overturn a regulation from the Biden administration that would sharply restrict…
Search Posts
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…
Inside Sources
Point: Critics Can’t Decide if Facebook Does Too Much or Too Little
During his recent appearance at Georgetown University, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed up the company’s predicament: “Right now, we’re doing a very good job at…
Forbes
Helicopter Government? How the Internet of Things Enables Pushbutton Regulation from a Distance
Artificial intelligence can be curiously stupid. My Android phone still thinks I’m “wing Cruz” and doesn’t know my kids. Pandora overplays The Church and Deadmau5…
News Release
CEI Applauds FCC Request for En Banc Hearing in Media Ownership Case
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today applauded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its decision to petition the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for an…
The Chicago Tribune
PRO: Critics can’t decide if Facebook does too much or too little
During his recent appearance at Georgetown University, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed up the company's predicament: "Right now, we're doing a very good job at…
Study
Democratic Capitalism: Why Political and Economic Freedom Need Each Other
Is capitalism destroying democracy? It is an old question that political thinkers have long wrestled with.
News Release
CEI Calls on FCC to Appeal Third Circuit Ruling on Media Ownership to the Supreme Court
This week, the Third Circuit struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s statutorily-obligated revisions to media ownership rules in a 2-1 decision. CEI urges FCC to…
Blog
Antitrust Astroturf Activism
Not too long ago, I pointed out that antitrust regulation is often gamed by special interests and rent-seekers. A recent story in The Wall Street…
The Atlantic
The Problem With the State-Level Investigation of Google
The battlefield is getting crowded. European antitrust enforcers have been fighting America’s tech giants for years. In the U.S., both the Justice Department and Federal…
Blog
In Its Stores, Walmart Behaves the Same Way Amazon Does and No One Cares
This week, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive story detailing how Amazon uses its algorithms to prioritize its brands and products that are more…
Blog
Automaker Antitrust Investigation Wrong Way to Fight Cartels
Cartels need government support because they contain the seeds of their own destruction. Self-interested companies acting selfishly naturally undo their own cartels.
Blog
Lead State in Big Tech Antitrust Suit Misleadingly Inflates Google’s Size
In The Wall Street Journal today, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is spearheading a multistate antitrust investigation into Google, made an egregious error.
Blog
Study on Export-Import Bank: Repeal Is Best, Other Reforms Can Help
The Export-Import Bank is up for reauthorization by September 30. It should be shut down, as I’ve pointed out before, but reauthorization will almost certainly…
Blog
State Attorneys General Launch Antitrust Investigations, Forget ‘Relevant Market’ Fallacy
Facebook and Google are facing separate antitrust investigations from publicity-seeking state attorneys general from both parties. New York’s Democratic attorney general is heading a joint…
News Release
Tech Antitrust Probes Good Politics for State AGs, but Terrible for Consumers
According to reports, a group of state attorneys general are planning to launch antitrust probes into Facebook and Alphabet’s Google division. New York AG Leticia…
Blog
Facebook’s $5 Billion Privacy Fine Almost Certainly Too High
Facebook has faced intense criticism from lawmakers and regulators since last spring, when The Observer and The New York Times reported that data from over…
The Hill
Facebook Audit Shows Conservatives Have the Social Media Company’s Attention
Facebook last week released the first portion of an independent report compiled by former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) addressing allegations of bias against conservatives by the…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Think Long Term, Not Just Short Term
Moore’s Law states that computing power doubles every year and a half or so. An antitrust case against IBM, by contrast, lasted for 13 years,…
Blog
Will T-Mobile/Sprint Merger Increase Prices?
Lots of things influence prices and, of course, not all are influenced by the same factors. However, the lawsuit filed by several state attorneys general…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Corruption and Rent-Seeking
Rent-seeking is economics jargon for chasing after unfair special favors from government. Businesses and individuals have a large menu of rent-seeking options to choose from,…
News Release
Facebook Report on Bias Overlooks Looming Threats of Speech Regulation
Facebook today released an interim report by former U.S. Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) examining claims by some conservatives of political bias on the part of…
Reason
Democrats Join Trump in Seeking Balance by Policing Speech
Reason cites Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews on free speech and Section 230: Removing Section 230 protection from platforms that bureaucrats consider…
Citation
White House Should Refrain from Taking Executive Action against Tech that Violates First Amendment Rights
According to a new Politico report, the White House is considering an executive order to “address allegations of anti-conservative bias by social media companies.”…
Blog
Response to State Lawsuit against T-Mobile/Sprint: Mergers Signal Dynamic Markets
The end of the first blog post in this series warned that the real result of a successful lawsuit to block the merger of Sprint…
Blog
State Lawsuit against T-Mobile/Sprint Counterproductive for Consumers
State attorneys general from fourteen states and the District of Columbia have sued to block the merger of mobile phone and Internet service providers T-Mobile…
News Release
Trump DOJ Wrong to Persecute Big Tech With Antitrust: CEI statement
On news that the Trump Justice Department is launching an antitrust review of big technology firms like Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple, a CEI technology policy expert warned…
Fortune
Why Recent Antitrust Regulation Isn’t Really About Consumer Protection
In its second hearing today, the House Judiciary Committee continued its investigation into the tech antitrust issue. This latest iteration of “hipster antitrust” is nothing more…
News Release
Breaking Up Tech Companies Will Harm Consumers and Halt Industry Dynamism
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust is holding a hearing today to consider the merits of antitrust regulation of large technology companies, including Amazon, Apple,…
News Release
Mnuchin Pushes Discredited Arguments Against Cryptocurrency
On news today that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned against Facebook’s proposed digital currency, Libra, as a national security risk and potential boon to “money…
Blog
VIDEO: Break up the Antitrust Attack on Big Tech
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation hosted an interesting policy discussion on antitrust this week titled “Breaking Up Big Tech: Making Sense of the Debate.”…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Regulatory Uncertainty
Antitrust laws are not enforced to the letter. They are a matter of regulators’ and judges’ discretion. If they were applied literally, every business transaction…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Rule of Reason Standard vs. Consumer Welfare Standard
Regulators have used two different standards to judge antitrust cases over the last century or so: the “rules of reason” standard and the “consumer welfare”…
Reason
Because Politicians Are for Sale, They Think Everyone Else Is Too
Reason cites CEI’s position on government control of the Internet. The senator thus compounds his disdain for free speech with accusations that his…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Misleading Herfindahl-Hirschman Index
Market concentration is the most common reason for antitrust intervention. If a company has too large a market share, it can abuse that market power…
Blog
More to Like in Zuckerberg’s Aspen Talk Than Not
Yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on some of the most pressing issues facing his company and big tech as…
Blog
If Facebook and Apple are Feuding, How Are they Monopolies?
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal recapped a recent war-of-words between a European Facebook executive, Nick Clegg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. At issue…
Blog
Antitrust Basics: Relevant Market Fallacy
If a firm is charged with having market power, the question naturally arises: in which market? Does Facebook have a monopoly over social networking, especially…
Blog
Introducing Antitrust Basics
Often, a drips-and-drabs approach to learning an issue over a period of time is as effective as a single intense cram session. To that end,…
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