Welcome to The Corner. In this issue, we look at how the FCC’s new Democratic majority could act to rein in Big Tech, and at Musk’s misuse of Starlink. 

📝 WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO:

• Open Markets Institute legal director Sandeep Vaheesan and chief economist Brian Callaci co-authored an op-ed for Bloomberg Law outlining how the new merger guidelines released by the FTC and DOJ can be improved. “The agencies’ proposed revisions don’t go far enough,” the authors write. “In their final guidelines, the DOJ and the FTC should announce stricter market-share tests—think 15% instead of 30%—and put the largest corporations on notice that their mergers and acquisitions won’t be tolerated.”
   
• Vaheesan and Callaci also co-authored an op-ed for The New Republic calling on the FTC to support independent contractors by banning contracts that exert employment-like control while depriving contractors of rights given to employees. “The FTC should use its statutory powers to rein in mistreatment of workers in the so-called ’gig economy’ and other ‘fissured’ workplaces, where employers disclaim employment responsibilities for workers they control,” they wrote.
   
• Open Markets Institute reporter Austin Ahlman published an article in The Intercept on the FTC’s about-face on the acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, which the agency blocked when Lockheed Martin tried to buy it last year. Of the FTC’s recent decision to allow another defense contractor, L3 Harris, to purchase the rocket propulsion firm, Ahlman wrote, “A move that would [have put FTC Chair Lina Khan] at odds with the Defense Department and the Biden administration’s fervent support for Ukraine may have been a bridge too far.”
   
• The Open Markets Institute and European partners SOMO and the Balanced Economy Project made a formal submission to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), urging the regulator to reconsider its preliminary decision to accept Amazon’s weak commitments, which came in response to it antitrust investigation of Amazon’s UK marketplace. “Amazon’s proposals are too narrow, leave the company with too much leeway to escape or frustrate enforcement, and will be challenging to monitor,” the submission read.
   
• Center for Journalism & Liberty director Courtney Radsch was quoted in the Los Angeles Times on Elon Musk’s recent decision to remove the blocking option on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Getting rid of block takes away an important tool for combating online harassment or having a more positive user experience,” Radsch said. Yahoo Finance and Ms. reprinted her comments on the subject. 
   
• DRG News reported on the appearance by Open Market Institute’s food systems program manager Claire Kelloway at R-CALF USA’s 24th Annual National Convention and Trade Show, where she offered expertise on monopoly power and market concentration in cattle production. 
   
• Chief economist Brian Callaci was quoted in In These Times commenting on the labor fight for fair working conditions in the clean economy. Drawing a comparison to today’s battle at EV plants to the UAW’s past efforts to extend bargaining agreements struck with automakers to larger auto parts suppliers, Callaci said, “The parts industry ultimately grew largely outside the UAW’s influence, and today employment in parts dwarfs employment at the Big Three.” The article was repinted in The Real News Network.
   
• Open Markets Institute’s strategic councilor on democracy and power, Caroline Fredrickson, was quoted in Bloomberg Law in an article on the judicial nomination process saying, “Republicans have shown less of an interest in ensuring that we have a more broadly diverse judiciary.” She was also featured on Bloomberg’s The Tape podcast talking about the Trump indictment.
   
• The New Republic cited an article the outlet published earlier this year by legal director Sandeep Vaheesan on how “Amazon’s broad universe of contract work is one factor that makes it hard for antitrust regulators to bring the firm to heel.”
   
• Writing in Wired, technology pundit Cory Doctorow used data compiled by Open Markets Institute to decry the widespread consolidation seen across U.S. “industries where between one and five companies account for the vast majority of business: pharmaceuticals, health insurers, appliances, athletic shoes, defense contractors, book publishing, booze, drug stores, office supplies, eyeglasses, LCD glass, glass bottles, vitamin C, car parts, bottle caps, airlines, railroads, mattresses, Lasik lasers, cowboy boots, and candy.”
   
• Senior legal analyst Daniel Hanley’s 2021 article in Democracy Journal arguing that corporations should be required to obtain charters from the federal government was cited by the Capital Research Center.
   
• MIT Technology Review cited an article by Courtney Radsch, director of the Center of Journalism & Liberty, on a new study out of Switzerland assessing the value of news to Big Tech outlets and their use of journalistic content.
   
• Northeastern University’s NGN Magazine quoted executive director Barry Lynn describing John Kwoka, an economics professor at the school who also serves as chief economist to the FTC chair, as “the rare economist who understands that the purpose of antimonopoly law is to protect our democracy and to make every individual more free, more secure and more prosperous.”
   
• Senior fellow Johnny Ryan’s claim that the Data Protection Commission (DPC) failed to fully investigate a complaint made five years ago about Google’s invasive data practices was dismissed by the High Court, in news that was covered by the Irish Examiner, RTE, Goodwin, and Business Post. The court said the DPC was entitled to conduct its own inquiry into the alleged data breach before resuming its investigation into Dr Ryan's complaint.
   

• Nieman Lab cited a report co-written by senior CJL fellow Nikki Usher on how the decline of local news opens the door to increased corruption, because the journalistic watchdog is no longer able to keep a close eye on business and public officials.
   

• Open Markets Institute’s joint letter with The American Booksellers, and the Authors Guild calling on the FTC and DOJ to investigate Amazon’s dominance over book publishing received coverage in Ars Technica, The Hill, ICV2, and The Jerusalem Post. This followed day-of coverage by The New York Times.
   

• The American Prospect cited a co-authored report by Open Markets and Friends of the Earth on ineffectual carbon payment programs promoted by Big Ag in an article on how public agriculture funding continues to be funneled to giant corporations

• The European Union launched enforcement of the Digital Markets Act by designating Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and ByteDance as so-called “gatekeepers,” meaning their market dominance will be subject to greater regulatory scrutiny. (Forbes) 
   
• The Seventh Circuit Court revived an antitrust case against McDonald’s over no-poach contracts preventing franchisees from hiring current or recent employees from other locations. (Bloomberg Law) 
   
• Following a probe from European Union antitrust officials, Microsoft will unbundle its Teams software and its office software suite. (CNN)   
   
• An administrative judge at the FTC ruled that Intuit, the provider of the TurboTax tax filing software, must cease deceptive advertising labeling the product as free. (Reuters)
   
• The Department of Justice this week announced that two directors at Pinterest had stepped down from the board of social media platform Nextdoor in response to agency scrutiny, as part of a larger crackdown by American antitrust regulators on “interlocking directorates,” or the practice of directors sitting on the boards of multiple competing companies. Relatedly, the FTC this week barred private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners from taking a board seat at EQT, the largest US natural gas producer, as part of a $5.2 billion deal between the two. (Financial Times)

📈 VITAL STAT:

80%

The portion of general search queries in the U.S. going to Google’s search distribution channels, which forms the basis of the arguments in the complaint leading to Google’s trial. (CNN)

📚 WHAT WE'RE READING:

“Containing Big Tech.” In his book, the veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tom Kemp offers an account of how Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple secured their dominant market position. Kemp also explores how their misuse of our personal data, their problematic deployment of underdeveloped AI tools, and their abuse of their outsized market power are threatening America’s economic and democratic values. Kemp explores a variety of potential policies to curtail the giants’ growing power.

“Market Concentration Implications of Foundation Models: The Invisible Hand of ChatGPT.” This report from the Brookings Institution details how the market structure of foundation models — the large AI models that enable products like ChatGPT — tends toward natural monopoly. Researchers Jai Vipra and Anton Korinek argue that the growing importance of these models and their bias toward monopoly present unprecedented regulatory challenges, especially to ensure there is viable competition among the producers of frontier AI models. 

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