OTI Welcomes House Report on Antitrust & Big Tech

On Tuesday, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) published a long-awaited bipartisan report on antitrust reform and digital markets. The report is the culmination of more than a year of work in the House of Representatives’ antitrust subcommittee, including multiple high-profile hearings and investigations of dominant tech platforms including Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple.

The following statement can be attributed to Joshua Stager, senior counsel for New America’s Open Technology Institute:

“We applaud the subcommittee for the yearlong investigation, many hearings, and thoughtful dialogue that went into creating this report. This impressive work should be a model for the rest of Congress on how to tackle problems and develop policy solutions.

We welcome many aspects of this report, including the recommendation that Congress enact a dominant platform presumption—something we asked antitrust regulators to adopt in February. Unfortunately, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice failed to adopt this proposal or any other meaningful changes to their vertical merger guidelines. It was a missed opportunity for change, and we’re glad to see Congressman Cicilline step up and lead this effort to strengthen our nation’s antitrust laws.”