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Scale or Fail: Why Paramount Skydance’s Warner Bros Gambit Makes Economic Sense - Truth on the Market
Just weeks after Skydance Media completed its acquisition of Paramount Global, the new company is reportedly preparing a majority cash bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in its entirety, including its cable networks and movie studio. A Skydance-Warner combination could reshape the global entertainment landscape. Backed by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison’s substantial family ... Scale or Fail: Why Paramount Skydance’s Warner Bros Gambit Makes Economic Sense
Big Isn’t Necessarily Bad - Truth on the Market
A recurring claim among a certain breed of would-be antitrust reformers—most recently given voice by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) during a June hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee—is that “big is bad.” The claim suffers first and foremost from conceptual ambiguity. Big in what sense? Market share? Revenue? Headcount? Asset size? Geographic scope? ... Big Isn’t Necessarily Bad
The Google Remedies Decision and Big Tech Antitrust - Truth on the Market
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s Sept. 2 remedies opinion in the U.S. v. Google monopolization (Google Search) case is, in large part, a rejection of government regulation of digital platforms in the guise of antitrust. The limited and cabined conduct-related remedies it imposes are far less significant than its rejection of the U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) proposed conduct ... The Google Remedies Decision and Big Tech Antitrust
The EU’s Google Adtech Decision: Structural Remedies by Stealth? - Truth on the Market
The European Commission’s €2.95 billion decision against Google arrives amid heightened EU-U.S. trade tensions, the Trump administration’s recent criticism of EU tech regulations, internal disagreements within the Commission, and heated commentary on both sides of the Atlantic. But beyond geopolitics, the decision also raises important legal and policy questions. In particular, the Commission’s apparent request ... The EU’s Google Adtech Decision: Structural Remedies by Stealth?
Paying Whistleblowers to Take Down Cartels - Truth on the Market
Cartel collusion among competitors is widely seen as the “supreme evil of antitrust,” and for more than three decades, competition-law enforcers in the United States and abroad have cooperated to ferret out cartel activity. Beginning in the 1990s, major jurisdictions started to emphasize highly effective “leniency” agreements to get cartel members to inform on their ... Paying Whistleblowers to Take Down Cartels
US and EU Clash on Promoting Space Commerce and Innovation - Truth on the Market
Commercial competition in outer space is expected to grow rapidly, with major economic benefits, including lowered costs, increased innovation, and the development of new industries. The proposed European Union Space Act, however, threatens to undermine beneficial competition by imposing new regulatory burdens on firms, especially U.S. satellite operators. In contrast, the Trump administration is acting ... US and EU Clash on Promoting Space Commerce and Innovation
Comparing the EU DMA to the Search-Query Data-Sharing Remedy in US v Google - Truth on the Market
The “user-side” search-query data remedy carved out by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in the just handed-down U.S. v Google decision appears to be animated by a similar intuition (search quality depends on large volumes of click-and-query signals) as the EU Digital Markets Act’s Article 6(11), but they also diverge in important ways. Where ... Comparing the EU DMA to the Search-Query Data-Sharing Remedy in US v Google
Antitrust at the Agencies: Moderation in All Things Edition - Truth on the Market
This Just In Judge Amit P. Mehta’s memorandum opinion in the Google Search case has dropped. It’s 230 pages, and I’ve merely skimmed it. A careful discussion–from me or anyone else–will wait a bit. For now, the remedies are quite a bit more than Google had proposed, but at the same time, a good deal ... Antitrust at the Agencies: Moderation in All Things Edition
New Regulatory Reform Initiative Could Bolster Trade Negotiations - Truth on the Market
In an Aug. 15 announcement, the White House and U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) pledged to undertake “an effort to identify State laws that significantly and adversely impact the national economy or interstate economic activity and to solicit solutions to address such effects.” This project complements the White House’s earlier April 9 executive order directing the federal antitrust agencies ... New Regulatory Reform Initiative Could Bolster Trade Negotiations
Foreign Trade Barriers Threaten American Space Dominance - Truth on the Market
A recently issued White House executive order aims to boost competition and innovation in America’s commercial space industry by cutting state and federal red tape, and by streamlining the permitting and licensure process for launching and receiving spacecraft. Across the pond in the European Union (EU), however, new legislation that unduly singles out U.S. companies ... Foreign Trade Barriers Threaten American Space Dominance
Self-Preferencing Isn’t a Sin. It’s Often the Way Competition Works. - Truth on the Market
Paris has decided that 2025 is the year to crack down on “autopréférence,” with the Autorité de la Concurrence opening a public consultation in June under France’s new law “to secure and regulate the digital space.” The inquiry asks interested parties to identify cases where a cloud-computing service provider treats its own software better than ... Self-Preferencing Isn’t a Sin. It’s Often the Way Competition Works.
The EU Proposes a DMA for Space - Truth on the Market
The European Union has a well-established playbook for regulating industries dominated by U.S. firms: Identify a market where American companies are global leaders; Draft sweeping legislation grounded in vague principles like “fairness” or “sustainability”; and Create a regulatory structure that imposes disproportionate burdens on the largest and most successful (and usually foreign) companies. The EU’s ... The EU Proposes a DMA for Space
Truth Cartels? The DOJ’s Misguided Leap into Viewpoint Regulation - Truth on the Market
In a surprising move, the U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division has thrown its weight behind a lawsuit that could reshape how courts—and antitrust enforcers—think about competition in digital media. The agency’s statement of interest filed last month in Children’s Health Defense v. Washington Post doesn’t merely take up the legal merits of a questionable ... Truth Cartels? The DOJ’s Misguided Leap into Viewpoint Regulation
Charter/Cox Merger Review and the Rule of Law - Truth on the Market
Charter Communications Inc. and Cox Communications Inc.—both providers of cable and broadband—are seeking approval of their proposed merger from the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While the prior administration’s enforcement agencies—who often relied on static market-share snapshots to pursue antitrust claims and failed to consider broader market dynamics—might have sued to block this ... Charter/Cox Merger Review and the Rule of Law
Reducing Merger Uncertainty Could Help the American Economy - Truth on the Market
The second Trump administration has been signaling a move away from the Biden administration’s policy of actively discouraging mergers. This change in direction could benefit the U.S. economy. But some merger uncertainty remains, rooted in the administration’s decision to retain 2023 merger guidelines. Targeted revisions to those guidelines—or, at the very least, public pronouncements designed ... Reducing Merger Uncertainty Could Help the American Economy
How Fixing Immigration Can Improve Competition and Create Opportunities for the US AI Workforce - Truth on the Market
The White House’s recently released AI Action Plan aims to secure U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence by abolishing red tape and fostering innovation, AI adoption, infrastructure building, and domestic chip manufacturing. To equip and develop the future AI workforce, it pledges public investments in research labs, manufacturing, and technical training programs, as well as tax incentives for businesses ... How Fixing Immigration Can Improve Competition and Create Opportunities for the US AI Workforce
US-China AI Competition in the Spotlight - Truth on the Market
Both the United States and China are pursuing national policies to promote the development of artificial intelligence (AI). In the United States, the White House’s recently announced AI Action Plan features a deregulatory approach to drive innovation and build an AI infrastructure that could be exported overseas. The Chinese government’s AI plan instead proposes a ... US-China AI Competition in the Spotlight
Getting Real on the NO FAKES Act - Truth on the Market
As the technology landscape moves further into a world of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs), there are questions of how well the law will be able to keep up. Sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the NO FAKES Act of 2025 (short ... Getting Real on the NO FAKES Act
Claims of Monopsony in the Wireless Industry Don’t Add Up - Truth on the Market
A recent report prepared for NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association by the Brattle Group paints a troubling picture of the U.S. wireless-infrastructure industry. But a closer look at the report’s narrative demonstrates that it is built on faulty premises, misapplied economics, and a failure to connect the dots. While the report serves as a ... Claims of Monopsony in the Wireless Industry Don’t Add Up
The Washington Effect: Will the Brussels Bureaucracy Bend? - Truth on the Market
Much has been said about the so-called “Brussels Effect”—that is, the European Union’s animating conceit that its mission is to make rules for the entire world. Without irony, the EU has embraced the meme that others innovate, while the EU regulates. Recent shifts in U.S. trade policy have introduced the threat of tariffs against jurisdictions ... The Washington Effect: Will the Brussels Bureaucracy Bend?
Lessons from the UK for Brazil's Digital Market Strategy - Truth on the Market
Brazil is broadly expected to move forward in the very near future with plans to adopt ex-ante competition regulations to govern digital platforms. Indeed, in the wake of a public consultation launched by the Ministry of Finance in early 2024, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the administration have spent much of the past ... Lessons from the UK for Brazil’s Digital Market Strategy
Crime and Punishment Online: Evaluating the TAKE IT DOWN Act - Truth on the Market
Large language models (LLMs) have become a major touchpoint at the state and local level in recent years. LLMs’ ability to create images, videos, music, writing, and other artistic works of varying social value has sparked a rush across the states to introduce legislation and regulations to limit the possible harms that might ensue. More ... Crime and Punishment Online: Evaluating the TAKE IT DOWN Act
The More Things Change: Exits, Reversals, and the Revolving Door - Truth on the Market
I’d like to begin with a tip of the hat to my former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) colleague Tara Koslov, who recently announced her retirement from the FTC after more than 28 years of service. Tara and I agreed on much, but far from everything. Heck, I have it on good authority that she hated ... The More Things Change: Exits, Reversals, and the Revolving Door
Antitrust and Collusion on Regulating Misinformation: Thoughts on the DOJ’s Statement of Interest - Truth on the Market
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) Antitrust Division filed a statement of interest late last week in a private antitrust case brought against a number of major news publishers by, among others, the Children’s Health Defense—the organization previously chaired by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nominally, the DOJ’s statement can be ... Antitrust and Collusion on Regulating Misinformation: Thoughts on the DOJ’s Statement of Interest
M&A Enforcement Easing Under the Trump Administration - Truth on the Market
The federal antitrust agencies appear to be easing up on merger enforcement, ditching a Biden administration policy of discouraging mergers. This change in direction could promote enhanced American innovation and economic growth. M&A Economic Benefits Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) generate various major economic benefits: They reallocate badly managed commercial assets to higher-valued uses, raising business ... M&A Enforcement Easing Under the Trump Administration
OECD Cloud-Computing Competition Study Offers Solutions in Search of a Problem - Truth on the Market
A recent Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) policy paper on competition in cloud computing frames the sector as fragile, with an imminent threat of anticompetitive behavior. As the paper notes, 70-80% of the global cloud share is controlled by Microsoft, AWS (Amazon Web Services), and Google. This paints the picture of a concentrated ... OECD Cloud-Computing Competition Study Offers Solutions in Search of a Problem
Competition Law and Technology-Platform Censorship - Truth on the Market
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently launched a public inquiry into technology platform censorship. Digital-platform censorship clearly raises serious policy concerns. Nevertheless, before filing lawsuits, the FTC and its fellow enforcement agency, the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) will need to factor in platforms’ First Amendment protections and limitations on agency statutory authority. Bringing platform-censorship cases may ... Competition Law and Technology-Platform Censorship
US Trade Retaliation May Be the Consequence for Imitating the EU's Digital Rulebook - Truth on the Market
In a tense meeting room last month in Brussels, U.S. trade negotiators leaned forward and delivered a pointed warning to their European counterparts: “Europe’s digital rules? They’re on the table—if the EU digs in, your exports face consequences.” South Korea now stands on the same precipice. By moving forward with the proposed Online Platform Monopoly ... US Trade Retaliation May Be the Consequence for Imitating the EU’s Digital Rulebook
Why the United States May Confront Nontariff Attacks Against Tech Firms - Truth on the Market
I recently explained in Forbes that U.S. trade negotiators could leverage the planned withdrawal of anticompetitive federal regulations to obtain a cutback in foreign anticompetitive market distortions (ACMDs) that harm American firms and consumers. A July 2 nonpartisan letter to senior administration officials from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), joined by senior policy scholars, ... Why the United States May Confront Nontariff Attacks Against Tech Firms
The State of Online Age Verification Post-Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton - Truth on the Market
The Supreme Court’s opinion in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton gave policymakers a big win in the battle for age verification for access to online pornography. But the broader war over age verification and parental consent online isn’t over. In fact, the majority’s opinion suggests that age verification for protected speech to minors will be ... The State of Online Age Verification Post-Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton
The Digital Markets Act as an EU Digital Tax: When Compliance Costs Dwarf Regulatory Estimates - Truth on the Market
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has emerged as one of the most consequential pieces of digital regulation in recent years. While officially presented as pro-competition legislation designed to ensure fair and open digital markets, mounting evidence suggests the DMA functions as a de facto digital tax on American technology companies. This analysis draws ... The Digital Markets Act as an EU Digital Tax: When Compliance Costs Dwarf Regulatory Estimates
Merger Control or Political Tool? Lessons from Spain’s Attempt to Stall the Sabadell Merger - Truth on the Market
The Spanish government has approved BBVA’s hostile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell but as I anticipated in an earlier Truth on the Market post, it did so while imposing stringent conditions. Both banks will be required to maintain separate legal identities, management, and operations for at least three years, potentially extendable to five. These conditions ... Merger Control or Political Tool? Lessons from Spain’s Attempt to Stall the Sabadell Merger
Strong Support for Patent Rights Could Promote US Innovation - Truth on the Market
Recent U.S. executive branch actions point to enhanced support for patent rights. This could help accelerate American innovation in a time of growing international competition. Background As I explained in a previous Forbes article: The United States has the world’s largest and most innovative economy, and our patent law framework has played a major role in ... Strong Support for Patent Rights Could Promote US Innovation
First Impressions from the DOJ/FTC Listening Session on Drug-Price Competition - Truth on the Market
Last week’s “listening session” on pharmaceutical competition, hosted jointly by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), may go down as an important precursor to the Trump administration’s promised campaign to lower drug prices. While billed as a fact-finding exercise, the discussion revealed competing visions to reform the U.S. pharmaceutical ecosystem, with ... First Impressions from the DOJ/FTC Listening Session on Drug-Price Competition
Mi CASA es Mi CASA - Truth on the Market
A little bird (ok, a normal-size adult human being) has asked me a question about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. CASA. It might not be the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue, although it’s a natural one for those interested in competition policy, administrative law, or all things (or at ... Mi CASA es Mi CASA
Let Privacy Features Compete: A Competition Approach to Privacy Regulation - Truth on the Market
The digital economy has made consumer data a central consideration in all kinds of consumer transactions. The digital economy “runs on data,” so to speak, although claims that data is “the new oil” fall short of the mark. Various digital services employ data to improve ad targeting, search, and artificial intelligence. In some kinds of ... Let Privacy Features Compete: A Competition Approach to Privacy Regulation
When Theoretical Rigor Misses Reality: Why Interchange-Fee Caps Won’t Benefit Consumers - Truth on the Market
Interchange fees charged by payment networks have in recent years been one of the most heated and persistent battles in financial regulation. These fees—typically 1-3% of credit-card transaction value in the United States—are charges that banks impose on merchants for processing credit- and debit-card transactions. What started as an obscure technical detail has exploded into ... When Theoretical Rigor Misses Reality: Why Interchange-Fee Caps Won’t Benefit Consumers
Implementing the EU’s Digital Markets Act: The Seen and the Unseen - Truth on the Market
The focus of the European Commission’s recently published second annual enforcement report on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) was, as expected, on what has been achieved. The report celebrates the concrete, measurable steps the Commission has taken to rein in “gatekeeper” platforms: investigations launched, compliance workshops held, remedies imposed. These are the seen effects—the visible ... Implementing the EU’s Digital Markets Act: The Seen and the Unseen
The DOJ May Consider Dropping Its HPE-Juniper Networks Merger Challenge - Truth on the Market
The U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) challenge to HPE’s proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks signals a concerning trend in merger enforcement that could undermine American economic vitality in a crucial high-tech sector. While regulatory scrutiny of consolidations is vital, a blanket skepticism toward merger activity—particularly one that overlooks significant procompetitive benefits—risks stifling innovation and weakening the very ... The DOJ May Consider Dropping Its HPE-Juniper Networks Merger Challenge
Bartz v. Anthropic: Mapping Fair-Use Boundaries in the Age of Generative AI - Truth on the Market
In a nuanced decision that nonetheless could serve to shape the intersection of copyright law and artificial intelligence for the foreseeable future, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California finds that “the purpose and character of using copyrighted works to train LLMs to generate new text was quintessentially ... Bartz v. Anthropic: Mapping Fair-Use Boundaries in the Age of Generative AI