US antitrust enforcers lay down plans to block Big Tech mergers
Federal antitrust enforcers released new draft guidelines for evaluating anti-competitive mergers Wednesday, redoubling their aggressive scrutiny over digital markets.
The rules, proposed by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, direct enforcers to examine mergers by online platforms more broadly than ever before. The proposal doesn’t explicitly name tech companies like Amazon, Meta, or Google, but many of the rules implicate parts of their merger and business strategies.
“We are updating our enforcement manual to reflect the realities of how firms do business in the modern economy,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement Wednesday.
Specifically, the rules set a new focus on “multi-sided” platforms, or online companies...