I received the press release below from the DOJ on Tuesday afternoon. The Department of Justice has announced that it is going to begin reviewing the exclusionary practices of certain big tech Internet giants. They weren’t named, but it is almost certain their initials are Facebook, Google, and/or Twitter. This is welcome news considering internet platforms’ censorship of conservative speech of which this site and many others like it have fallen victim to.
DOJ said it will be looking to “Review Focuses on Practices that Create or Maintain Structural Impediments to Greater Competition and User Benefits.” To translate that into English, they will be investigating whether they favor liberal content over conservative content.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2019
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEWING THE PRACTICES OF MARKET-LEADING ONLINE PLATFORMS
Review Focuses on Practices that Create or Maintain Structural Impediments to Greater Competition and User Benefits
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that the Department’s Antitrust Division is reviewing whether and how market-leading online platforms have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers.
The Department’s review will consider the widespread concerns that consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online. The Department’s Antitrust Division is conferring with and seeking information from the public, including industry participants who have direct insight into competition in online platforms, as well as others.
“Without the discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division. “The Department’s antitrust review will explore these important issues.”
The goal of the Department’s review is to assess the competitive conditions in the online marketplace in an objective and fair-minded manner and to ensure Americans have access to free markets in which companies compete on the merits to provide services that users want. If violations of law are identified, the Department will proceed appropriately
Perhaps the news that broke the camel’s back was when the Google exec was caught by Project Veritas claiming that the search engine will prevent Pres. Trump’s re-election.
Who knows if this investigation will lead to anything, but as someone who has spent many recent days on “Facebook Jail” it might be fun to see Marc Zuckerberg doing a traditional perp walk.
I wonder if his father knows.