Self-Preferencing Can Violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act and Other Updates

Hi everyone.

I have been quite busy over the last few weeks.

Since my last post, I have been quoted in Forbes, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg Law. In Forbes, I was quoted opposing vertical mergers by dominant firms. In Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg, I discuss how the FTC can repair its complaint against Facebook after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s decision to dismiss the agency’s complaint.

I have also published several articles in The Corner, the main newsletter of the Open Markets Institute where I am employed. In the first article, I discuss the important lessons to be learned from AT&T’s failed acquisition of Time Warner. In the second article, I discuss the FTC’s report on right to repair and how it forms a critical foundation for promoting right to repair in the United States. In the third article, I discuss the recent batch of legislation moving through Congress to break up Big Tech and fundamentally restructure the operations of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.

Lastly, I published a new article in Competition Policy International. In this 4,000+ word article, I discuss how self-preferencing can violate Section 2 of the Sherman Act as a form of illegal monopolization.

In the article, I discuss the intent and purpose of the antitrust laws (specifically the Sherman Act) as an attempt by Congress to prohibit unfair competition in the economy. I then explain how self-preferencing, which is when a firm unfairly modifies its operations to privilege its own, another firm’s, or a set of firms’ products or services, can violate the Sherman Act.

There are lots more updates coming real soon.