this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 53 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

You just let Microsoft buy Activision. You’re not going to do shit about this either.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The FTC fully opposed it and is still opposing it as of Dec 6th. The FTC sued twice to stop the deal, and is currently appealing the merger a judge approved.

They are opposing it so much it is drawing scrutiny on the extremely aggressively antitrust chair Biden appointed, Lina Khan, a person who literally wrote a lauded economics paper about how amazon became a monopoly using anticompetitive practices and illegal tactics.

Get pissed at the government if you like, but at least get your facts straight first.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The FTC tried & failed. They'll most likely fail here too. It's tough for courts to rule against what the FTC sees as unfair competition when even the judges are likely Amazon Prime & Big 3 ecosystem subscribers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm not a lawyer or legal expert but my layman's understanding is the laws on antitrust are a 100 years old. Most of these companies skirt them "technically". There is thing about proving consumer harm and some of these, in the short term, are arguable better for consumers. Likewise proving an actual monopoly with old time definitions is hard because in a lot of cases there is technically competition.

Let me end by saying, I think it's horse she and they are plenty anti competitive practices out there, but the FTC is fighting with a hand tied behind their back with the laws in place.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I can't imagine any law that would preclude the status quo, as Microsoft doesn't own a controlling stake in OpenAI anyway. It sounds like the FTC is picking its targets based on market cap only.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago

And literally nothing will happen.

Monopolies own the govt, they do what they want

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Fuck happened to the amazon investigation? FTC is all about news headlines and that's it.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

What happened is that the FTC is taking on Amazon in court as we speak:

FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago

Their lead investigator will surely sniff this one out!

/I'm going to hell!

[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The FTC is pro-trust not antitrust.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Appointing Lina Khan to head the FTC is one of the only good things Biden has done while in office.

However, the FTC has been defanged and neutered by the courts and Congress. To say nothing of the full court press the media, especially mainstream business publications, have engaged in to attack her and limit her influence and reduce her political capital.

So unlike most of Biden's top level appointments, I actually don't doubt her intentions, or her goals, but I also don't hold out much hope as to what she'll be able to accomplish, though not for any lack of effort on her part.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 11 months ago

Looks more like investigating having their photo taken