FTC announces a new task force to monitor competition in “technology-related sectors” and says that it will look into previous mergers
Trump Turns on China Hawks as Huawei Doubles Down Carla Sinclair / Boing Boing : [UPDATE] Herbal company fined $12.8 million after paying for fake Amazon reviews Cal Jeffrey / TechSpot : FTC creates task force to investigate issues within tech industry New York Times : DealBook Briefing: The Justice Dept. Needs a New Antitrust Target Ben Bajarin / Tech.pinions : Pro's and Cons of the FTC Task Force on Anti-Trust Federal Trade Commission : FTC's Bureau of Competition Launches Task Force to Monitor Technology Markets David McCabe / Axios : FTC targets tech with new antitrust team PYMNTS.com : FTC Takes Fresh Aim At Big Tech — And Its Previous Mergers Catherine Shu / TechCrunch : FTC brings its first case against fake paid reviews on Amazon Jen Thorpe / Geek News Central : FTC Announced Creation of Technology Task Force Peter O'Kelly / Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check : New FTC task force will take on tech monopolies | The Verge Betsy Woodruff / The Daily Beast : Lina Khan, a Top Antitrust Thinker, in Talks to Join Democratic Staff in the House, Putting Silicon Valley on Alert Charlotte Jee / MIT Technology Review : Democrats promise to get tough on big tech—and they're starting with privacy Tom McKay / Gizmodo : The Federal Trade Commission Is Starting a New Antitrust Task Force Looking at Big Tech Becky Peterson / Business Insider : A powerful new sheriff is cracking down on tech, but here's why industry experts say you won't … Roger Fingas / AppleInsider : FTC opens task force to keep tabs on competition in US tech market Tweets: Karl Bode / @karlbode : Yeah I have to say I agree with @matthewstoller here. Why does the FTC need an entirely new “task force” when it historically refuses to do the job it already has? Especially in telecom, where outright fraud is ignored almost constantly. http://www.wired.com/... http://twitter.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : Old-school retailer trade association very much OK with new FTC task force scrutinizing competition in tech industry. “needed scrutiny to the relatively few technology platforms that control a growing share of modern commerce” ahem, ahem, i wonder who they are talking about pic.twitter.com/pkE1ey5bQG @wired : The FTC is launching a new task force that will keep tabs on tech's competitive landscape and assess mergers. But critics say it is little more than an exercise in virtue signaling. “The FTC has consistently proven they do not want to wield power.” http://www.wired.com/... @business : The FTC is creating a task force to investigate potentially anticompetitive conduct by big tech companies, following years of criticism that they haven't done enough to keep them in check http://www.bloomberg.com/... Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku : “They want to hold hearings. They want to get their friend economists and antitrust lawyers to fly into DC ...They don't want to do their number one job, which is to police markets for unfair & anticompetitive behavior” - @matthewstoller http://www.wired.com/... via @issielapowsky Tony Romm / @tonyromm : @MikeIsaac @MattRosoff at the end of the day, to do something like take apart a company, they'd have to be able to go to court and prove that it had violated federal antitrust law. that is hard. and i do not see the agency doing this unless they had a clear win, with or without task force. but... Tony Romm / @tonyromm : @MikeIsaac @MattRosoff i mean it would be epic if they concluded “actually we done wrong” and then tried to fix it. the FTC made clear today that technically they had the remedies at their disposal to do such a thing if they could meet the legal standard or proof but..... Rat King / @mikeisaac : very interesting but it also seems, idk, weird to look back on seven year old acquisitions like Instagram — assuming IG is on the table — or even five year old ones like whatsapp and be like “uh, actually this is bad"but would love input from DC folks on how common it is @ceciliakang : NEW: FTC focuses on Tech and Antitrust, forms a task force on tech in competition to look for antitrust violations. Among ideas: to look at past “consummated mergers” to see if they pose antitrust concerns. http://www.ftc.gov/... Spencer Dailey / @spencerdailey : @Techmeme @kellymakena notable: the timing of Facebook recently shutting down its Onavo/"Research" efforts completely (on Android too) — if buying competition is actually going to see scrutiny, maybe collecting all internet traffic of teens with root certificates isn't as savory, business-wise? Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : $FB stock is slightly up today. https://twitter.com/... David Cicilline / @davidcicilline : This is an important step toward restoring competition online and keeping the Internet open and innovative. Companies like @Facebook will not regulate themselves. Government has to do more to protect consumers! https://twitter.com/... Makena Kelly / @kellymakena : The @FTC has “announced the creation of a task force dedicated to monitoring competition in U.S. technology markets, investigating any potential anticompetitive conduct in those markets, and taking enforcement actions when warranted.” http://www.ftc.gov/... Hamza Shaban / @hshaban : The FTC is creating a team dedicated to monitoring competition in the tech industry. What jumps out: 1) That it's 2019 and they're only doing this now 2) A mandate to review mergers that have already taken place — Facebook/Instagram comes to mind http://www.ftc.gov/... http://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The FTC's Bureau of Competition is standing up a dedicated team to police competition in technology markets, with an unusual remit: it will re-examine mergers that already closed, not just vet new deals. The move lands amid rising bipartisan pressure on Big Tech, with figures like David Cicilline pushing from Capitol Hill and Lina Khan reportedly in talks to join House Democratic staff.
The task force did not stay on paper — within months it was holding private meetings in Silicon Valley hunting evidence of anticompetitive behavior. But the agency's follow-through has been contested terrain: an internal memo later showed the FTC cutting costs and freezing hiring even as Congress demanded action against Big Tech, and the eventual dismissal of its Facebook suit exposed how hard antitrust charges are to make stick.
First-order effects
- Large technology acquirers now face retroactive review of consummated acquisitions, meaning past deals once waved through can be reopened for antitrust concerns.
- The FTC's Bureau of Competition gains a permanent, specialized team for tech markets, shifting staff and investigative focus toward platform competition cases.
Second-order effects
- Startups and rivals get a formal channel to surface complaints about dominant platforms — the task force's later Silicon Valley outreach turned that channel into an active evidence-gathering operation.
- Companies weighing acquisitions by big tech firms face a longer shadow of scrutiny, raising the perceived risk premium on exit-by-acquisition strategies.
Third-order effects
- Enforcement ambition is colliding with capacity: the cost-cutting, hiring-freeze memo shows an agency asked to do more against Big Tech with fewer resources, a gap lawmakers would have to close through funding or tougher statutes if suits keep failing.
- The task force establishes a durable institutional template for tech scrutiny at the FTC that later chairs repurpose — the 2025 'Big Tech censorship' inquiry under Andrew Ferguson shows the same machinery being pointed at new targets beyond mergers.
The trend: US antitrust enforcement is institutionalizing technology-market scrutiny as a standing function of the FTC, with each administration redirecting the same machinery toward different grievances.