Open Markets Institute

In Tech Policy Press, Karina Montoya Guevara examines "How US History and Google’s Own Behavior Justifies a Break-Up to Restore Competition in Search" https://lnkd.in/eQiQ622E She continues to cover both government cases concerning Google's monopoly power, including today's closing arguments in the adtech trial. Follow Karina Montoya Guevara for the latest.

?? ?? #storytime You know how business media pays crazy attention to tech & retailers' stocks during earnings call season? Well, more media should be closely reporting on a sector that consumers have little time and energy to think about, but that it matters SO MUCH to how we get goods to our table - and that affects hundreds of U.S. exporters too: ocean freight carriers. Only in the 3Q2024, corporations in this sector have posted profit increases between 400% and more than 1000% year-over-year. Profits from where? From importers, exporters, and small businesses. Sure, "but there is probably a very reasonable 'market forces' justification for that," you'll be tempted to think. My colleague Arnav Rao reports on all the facts that paint a dire picture of how extreme market concentration in ocean freight carriers squeezes everyone - with consumers being the last link in the chain - and why that is happening.

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??Posting a bit of my antitrust radar here. A short list of court hearings on Big Tech litigation cases happening before Thanksgiving: 1?? FTC v Meta (D.C. federal court): Hearing to discuss trial scheduling. NOV 25, 2 pm ET. ??Zoom. Toll free number: 866-434-5269, access code: 2989848. Refresher: This is a monopoly case targeting Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. A D.C. judge recently ruled the case will go to trial. https://lnkd.in/enDmr34K 2??US v Google II - ad tech trial (VA federal court): Closing arguments day. NOV 25, 10 am ET. ??Alexandria, Courtroom 700. Unfortunately there is no remote access. But I'll be posting a day-end report here: https://lnkd.in/daiTQMuX 3??US v Google I - search monopoly (D.C. federal court): Status conference for remedies trial. NOV 26, 11 am ET. ??Zoom. Toll free number: (877) 848-7030, access code: 321-8747. The DOJ should submit its final remedies proposal today. Here's what to expect: https://lnkd.in/ekpYvGt5

CJL Director Courtney Radsch, PhD weighed in on the proposed final judgement the Department of Justice has put forward to address Google’s monopoly over online search: “The trial for this case revealed that Google’s self-dealing behavior to monopolize the search market was facilitated by its ownership and control of both Chrome and Android. Structural separations are an effective and necessary measure to prevent this behavior today and in the future.” “We welcome the forward-looking approach of the DOJ that focuses on the pivotal role that AI-assisted search and other AI-enabled features will play in Google’s ability to continue to unduly entrench its market power in our information ecosystem.” “Measures related to licensing Google’s search index data and requirements to give advertisers more control over their ad spending can be transformative not only for consumers, but also for news publishers, who have long faced the effects of a behemoth gobbling up ad dollars based on anticompetitive behavior.” Karina Montoya Guevara on our team has covered both the Google search and ad tech monopolies trials closely. You can find her reporting and more on our website here: https://lnkd.in/egpQddwY

We've spent the last year+ examining ways to build a future for AI that centers the public good rather than corporate dominance and profit. We share some of our most important work and writings in a new blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eQH8JDRb

Open Markets' longstanding newsletter on corporate power in the food system, authored by Claire Kelloway, is now on Substack. Want to understand how large corporations and unfair competition that goes unchecked in agriculture, groceries, and all of the middlemen in between impact the quality and cost of what we eat? Sign up: https://lnkd.in/d_rmMHsU

On December 4, we're celebrating our legal director Sandeep Vaheesan and the publication of his new book, "Democracy in Power," in Washington, DC. We hope you'll join us! https://lnkd.in/ek3yZMQJ

There are two existing cases challenging the Federal Trade Commission's landmark prohibition on non-compete clauses. At Open Markets, we argue that contracts that bind workers to their jobs are an unfair method of competition and that banning these coercive contracts is fully consistent with the FTC Act and FTC historical policymaking. Read our amicus brief in one of the cases, Villages v. FTC here: https://lnkd.in/eN7xwYV3

Teresa Ribera, the EU's next designated Competition Commissioner, has her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament this evening. While it's clear that competition policy needs to evolve with the times, recent proposals for change – most notably Mario Draghi's report on competitiveness and von der Leyen's "Mission Letter" – are ambiguous and frequently in tension with each other. In my latest piece for ProMarket at the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, I unpack these proposals – highlighting both areas of alignment and divergence – and set out key questions that Ribera will need to answer both at her hearing and in her new role. https://lnkd.in/ddvDNtrv