Antitrust Law and Big Tech: Present and Future
Date: May 16, 2022
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Virtual
Speakers:
- George Slover, Senior Counsel for Competition Policy, Center for Democracy and Technology
- Alden Abbott, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center
- Daniel Hanley, Senior Legal Analyst, Open Markets Institute
- Christopher Yoo, Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School
The Biden administration, via the president’s Executive Order on competition and by its appointees to key economic policy and antitrust enforcement posts, has made clear its intent to usher in a new era of progressive-led antitrust reform. To achieve this vision, various changes to the legal framework of antitrust enforcement are in progress or have been proposed—from rescinding and rewriting merger guidelines to promulgating new Federal Trade Commission regulations to having Congress revise the antitrust laws itself.
Much of this effort has been framed in terms of the rise of Big Tech and the colossal size and wealth of America’s most successful internet and computer companies. Are antitrust laws—as currently enforced—too lax in policing anticompetitive behavior in the digital economy? What changes in enforcement or law, if any, are necessary to deal with novel competition concerns posed by the size and reach of these companies?
This panel gives the audience a unique chance to learn from the perspectives of top legal minds on both sides of the question in their own words.