Technostation.com_The U.S. antitrust authorities laid the groundwork for a harsher examination of prospective mergers by Big Tech firms like Amazon and Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday with the release of new regulatory guidelines.
The Biden administration has challenged mergers more forcefully and adopted a harsher position. Just last week, it suffered two court defeats. Judges will hear a number of cases in the upcoming months, including one in which the Justice Department is contesting JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit.
Without mentioning them by name, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission’s 51-page guidelines detailed agreements like Amazon’s purchase of the video doorbell Ring in 2018 and advised the antitrust agencies to examine them.
In the draught guidelines, it is stated that “a platform operator who is also a platform participant has a conflict of interest due to the incentive to give its own products and services an advantage over other competitors using the platform, harming competition.”
The proposal further states that a merger should not prevent a competitor from entering a crowded market or result in the acquisition of a firm that supplies inputs to the target company’s rivals.
The policies reflect how labour difficulties have been emphasised by the Biden administration’s antitrust enforcement.
The guidelines, which would supersede those from 2010 on businesses buying rivals and 2020 on businesses merging with suppliers, mirror how the FTC and Justice Department already enforce laws against improper mergers.
In an executive order issued in the middle of 2021, President Joe Biden recommended that the criteria be modified. Before they are finalised, they will be subject to 60 days of public feedback.
