Biden signs an EO calling on regulators to enact reforms such as increasing scrutiny of tech mergers and focusing more on moves like “killer acquisitions”

- President Joe Biden signed a new executive order aimed at cracking down on anti-competitive practices in Big Tech, labor and numerous other sectors.

CNBC 2021-07-10

Discussion

@nproctor Nathan Proctor on x
“In the Order, the President: Encourages the FTC to issue rules against anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops or doing DIY repairs of your own devices and equipment.” https://twitter.com/...
@ron_miller Ron Miller on x
The White House EO to increase competition in various markets released this morning is comprehensive and kind of amazing. It includes components to limit “killer acquisitions” that would allow a company to control markets or collect pools of data. https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
The White House is out this morning with a massive fact sheet on the competition executive order Biden is set to sign today. Highlights include net neutrality, killer acquisitions, right to repair. https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@peterzeihan Peter Zeihan on x
A reminder that EVERY part of the political spectrum has turned against Silicon Valley. The difference is over why. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@waynedupreeshow Wayne Dupree on x
ITS NOTHING: Biden to sign executive order aimed at cracking down on Big Tech business practices The order will call for regulators to enact reforms such as increasing their scrutiny of tech mergers & putting more focus on moves like “killer acquisitions” https://www.cnbc.com/...
@bitshammer Matt Austin on x
Tackling regional monopolies like broadband companies? Fucking sweet. https://www.politico.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Biden antitrust executive order will ask the FTC to look at “killer acquisitions” in Big Tech. (As in, preventing another Facebook-Instagram deal.) @ylanmui reported this morning: https://www.cnbc.com/...
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
New Biden executive order encourages the FCC to bring back net neutrality and enforce clearer pricing labels for ISPs, along with many other things to increase competition in tech https://www.theverge.com/...
@linakhanftc Lina Khan on x
1. Today's Executive Order on competition launches an important cross-government effort to re-center antimonopoly policy as a key tool for promoting a fair and thriving economy. https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@potus President Biden on x
Let me be clear: capitalism without competition isn't capitalism. It's exploitation.
@potus President Biden on x
Tune in as I deliver remarks and sign an executive order on promoting competition in the American economy. https://twitter.com/...
@politico @politico on x
The White House has announced a sweeping executive order to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy. It's the most ambitious effort in generations to reduce the stranglehold of monopolies and concentrated markets in major industries. https://www.politico.com/...
@repkatieporter Rep. Katie Porter on x
I'm excited to see @POTUS's announcement today about steps he's taking to protect consumers, promote competition, and expand our economy. This action is long overdue and includes many policies I've been fighting for. (THREAD) https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@senatorbennet Michael Bennet on x
I applaud @POTUS for acting to strengthen competition from broadband to Big Tech to drug pricing. In too many parts of our economy, the biggest players write the rules and abuse their power — hurting consumers and suffocating innovation. It needs to end. https://www.cnn.com/...
@chenweihua @chenweihua on x
@POTUS Capitalism is all about exploitation. Period.
@eshalegal Esha K. on x
@matthewstoller He has not even signed it...But what is the enforcement mechanism? Who is in charge? What is the plan for enforcement?
@senblumenthal Richard Blumenthal on x
This exec order is a blueprint for restraining Big Tech, calling for enforceable FTC rules to end their invasive data collection that has been damaging to our democracy, privacy, & civil rights. All while tackling head-on broadband companies' myriad of anti-consumer practices. ht…
@jenfl23 Jen Perelman on x
President Biden should enact the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up these economic monopolies. That said, this is a step in the right direction so tip of the hat to Joe. https://twitter.com/...
@kendraschaefer @kendraschaefer on x
US exec order: “Encourages the FTC to establish rules barring unfair methods of competition on internet marketplaces.” China in February: Releases major anti-monopoly policy for the platform economy: 5/5 https://www.gov.cn/...
@kendraschaefer @kendraschaefer on x
US exec order: “Encourages the FTC to establish rules on surveillance and the accumulation of data.” China's CAC: Establishing rules on what data can be accumulated under what circumstances by apps (kind of): 4/5 https://www.cac.gov.cn/...
@repjayapal Rep. Pramila Jayapal on x
This is a great step towards ensuring our small businesses can thrive. The next step is to pass my Ending Platform Monopolies Act to further rein in Big Tech's anti-competitive and monopolistic practices. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@linakhanftc Lina Khan on x
3. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment to address unchecked market concentration and promote fair competition. I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners and partners across federal government to use our full suite of antimonopoly tools and advance this key mission.
@senblumenthal Richard Blumenthal on x
For years tech companies & equipment makers have locked down the tools & info needed to repair devices—making fixes more costly & time-consuming. Glad to see Biden calling on the FTC to pull back these restrictions & restoring people's right to repair. https://www.wired.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
@eshaLegal It's reasonable to be skeptical about its impact. We'll see what happens.
@felixsalmon Felix Salmon on x
Question for people who understand Washington: Does the EO in any way empower Khan to do things at the FTC she didn't already have the power to do? https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
It's fascinating to see Biden today explicit reject Robert Bork and 40 years of concentration-friendly policy, at the same time as conservative anti-monopolist @JDVance1 runs against Jeff Bezos and multi-national corporations. Politics is changing rapidly. https://twitter.com/...
@richardtrumka Richard Trumka on x
We applaud this effort to crack down on anti-competitive behavior that has allowed big tech and other powerful corps to keep wages down and prices artificially high. This E.O. is further evidence that Pres @POTUS intends to put government on the side of workers and consumers. htt…
@taralach Tara Lachapelle on x
@felixsalmon Khan and her Democrat colleagues gave her the power to do things she didn't have the power to do at the FTC before when they voted to rescind the 2015 policy statement regarding the consumer-welfare standard. It broadens their authority back out to what it once was.
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
The biggest objection to taking on monopolists and big business isn't opposition, but fatalism. So many of the replies here are 'he's lying, this will never happen, etc.' https://twitter.com/...
@amyklobuchar Amy Klobuchar on x
We must address America's monopoly problem by reimagining what the government can do to promote competition. I commend President Biden for this groundbreaking Executive Order, that will help restore competition & build an economy that works for all Americans. https://twitter.com/…
@caffar3cristina Cristina Caffarra on x
Extraordinary times. The US has gone from “the last thing you ever did was Microsoft 20 years ago” to State AGs groundswell and now to #this in a year. https://twitter.com/...
@fboversight @fboversight on x
The order would allow the DOJ/FTC to review prior bad mergers including possibly Facebook's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. https://twitter.com/...
@taralach Tara Lachapelle on x
@felixsalmon I don't think so. But it's a notable shift in tone from previous administrations. Dealmakers and their lawyers always talk of the “environment” under certain admins - this one may have more of a chilling effect & pushes FTC to be more interventionist https://www.bloo…
@taralach Tara Lachapelle on x
@felixsalmon i.e., shows FTC & exec branch are all aligned. Big change from lax regulation under past admins for which restoring it just wasn't as big a priority.
@davidakaye David Kaye on x
with its attention to #RightToRepair, non-compete restrictions, anti-monopoly policies, & so much more, this is one of the most empowering domestic moves from the @POTUS @JoeBiden admin yet. good for individuals, small business, the economy. love it. https://www.whitehouse.gov/..…
@halsinger Hal Singer on x
Apple is moving aggressively into consumer-health devices (via a “dozen” acquisitions) and health subscription services. We need some ground rules like Cicilline's bill to keep these ancillary markets open to competition, else Apple will monopolize them. https://www.economist.com…
@marwilliamson Marianne Williamson on x
Thrilled you're there @linakhanFTC https://twitter.com/...
@kendraschaefer @kendraschaefer on x
US exec order: “Announces an Administration policy of greater scrutiny of mergers, especially by dominant internet platforms.” China's SAMR for the last year: Increasing oversight on M&As by tech companies. 3/5 https://www.yicai.com/...
@eshalegal Esha K. on x
@matthewstoller Did I say fake? I recall saying" take on is a huge exaggeration" I'd say “moderately regulate in some sectors” is a better description.
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
@eshaLegal These are all questions with easy answers. But instead of actually, you know, finding out, you asserted that this action is fake. It's not fake. Putting Lina Khan at the FTC is not fake. Demanding a WTO TRIPS waiver on vaccines is not fake.
@benedictevans Benedict Evans on x
The Biden executive order references a theory that the big tech companies buy start-ups that are a threat in order to shut them down - the ‘killer acquisition’. I genuinely can't think of a single example of this. Perhaps Mint, which wasn't ‘big’ tech. Others?
@jbarro Josh Barro on x
Lots of political rhetoric about promoting business competition consists of inane complaints about corporate “bigness.” So I'm glad to see the White House competition agenda is largely full of sensible, concrete ideas to make markets more competitive. https://www.whitehouse.gov/.…
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
Biden: “Rather than competing for consumers, [businesses are] consuming their competitors.” https://twitter.com/...
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
A key line for Big Tech in the Biden executive order on competition, especially regarding the potential to unwind the Instagram & WhatsApp deals Facebook made. https://www.whitehouse.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
One amusing part of monopoly debates are when people ignore how courts and enforcers have destroyed the law and say ‘the antitrust laws need to be updated they were created in an era of railroads and steel.’ There are monopolies in railroads and steel. https://t.co/wUup8vX0Xp
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
Railroad monopolies - part owned by Warren Buffett - are upset. Biden “would roll back the market-driven principle that keeps the industry viable, reduce network fluidity, and ultimately undermine the ability to serve customers at a time when freight demands have increased.” http…
@eshalegal Esha K. on x
“take on” is a huge exaggeration. https://twitter.com/...
@will_bunch Will Bunch on x
This sounds nothing like a president “in cognitive decline” - what I hear from right-wingers I talk to and in the media Maybe that's because a 78-year-old's occasional inability to summon the right word has no connection to a vision for the U.S. and hiring folks to implement it h…
@man_integrated Huntsman on x
In theory, this is a very good thing, but the devil's in the details. I'm particularly interested in the provisions addressing ocean carriers' and railroads' abusive practices, but also why rebuilding America's maritime capacity doesn't seem to be included. https://twitter.com/..…
@kendraschaefer @kendraschaefer on x
Just read Biden's executive order on competition. Very close (and surely coincidental) parallels with what Chinese regulators are getting up to these days. 1/5 https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@sbf_alameda SBF on x
https://www.cnbc.com/... Usually headlines about “cracking down on big tech” are pretty bad and just culture wars, but... ...most of the policies here actually seem pretty good, and actually aimed at anti-competitive practices
@timobrien Tim O'Brien on x
Biden will sign a sweeping executive order to promote competition across industries, seeking increased scrutiny of tech companies, drug prices, shipping and more - and prompting new regulations on everything from airline luggage fees to non-compete clauses https://www.bloomberg.c…
@profcarroll David Carroll on x
Biden orders FTC to write up new limits on user data exploitation. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@eriqgardner Eriq Gardner on x
As President Joe Biden signs a wide-ranging executive order intended to promote competition in the American economy, I ask: Just how did Netflix get so lucky? https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
@jasonhirschhorn Jason Hirschhorn on x
Total waste of time... FTC Opens Probe of Amazon's MGM Purchase, Signaling a Lengthy Inquiry https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@amir Amir Efrati on x
What time is it? It's @linakhanFTC time. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... @joshua_sisco $amzn
@dylanbyers Dylan Byers on x
FTC has opened Amazon-MGM probe > https://twitter.com/...
@adamkovac Adam Kovacevich on x
Prediction: this deal will be to Khan's FTC what AT&T/Time Warner was to Delraham's DOJ antitrust division: a vertical deal that should clearly be approved, but will be challenged (or at least stretched out) for political rather than substantive reasons. https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Good point: Increased M&A scrutiny is great for Netflix, since much of the M&A is aimed at competing with Netflix. https://twitter.com/...
@karlbode Karl Bode on x
There's good stuff in this Biden executive order related to broadband, and you can see Tim Wu's fingerprints all over it. Glad we could take a break from myopically focusing on “big tech” to remember that “big telecom” still exists. https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@ddayen David Dayen on x
This is yet another example of myopically equating “antitrust policy” with “tech policy” when it's so much more multivaried than that https://newrepublic.com/...
@alexlindsay @alexlindsay on x
@TobyS2 Except that Apple Users' experience will be degraded as the pigs in these big companies move services to the 3rd party app stores, ask for our information, track us, require their own logins... it will suck.
@kylenabecker Kyle Becker on x
Net Neutrality is coming back. Just in time. The Internet was literally going to *cease to exist* any moment now. https://twitter.com/...
@edmundlee Edmund Lee on x
@felixsalmon no. he's basically telling all agencies to stop using the Bork interpretation of the antitrust statute (frankly, long overdue)
@markhachman Mark Hachman on x
Biden's executive order this morning covers quite a lot of ground in the tech industry, from net neutrality to right of repair, even hearing aids. Here's a rundown: https://www.pcworld.com/...
@droid254 Droid on x
Right to repair will really affect the future of Apple devices https://twitter.com/...
@alexlindsay @alexlindsay on x
Banks screw us on a daily basis. Congress -To big to fail. Cable companies -Lack of competition thus poor service damages the economies of entire communities. Congress -That's OK. Apple builds something that actually works for consumers. Congress - Well, we can't have that.
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
Jfc the Biden EO has a bit about revising FRAND standards patent licensing, the Vergecast strikes again https://twitter.com/...
@betsy_klein Betsy Klein on x
News you can use: today's executive order directs the Department of Transportation to make rules forcing airlines to refund your money when the in-flight WiFi doesn't work (among other provisions) https://www.cnn.com/...
@reckless Nilay Patel on x
Here I am asking Tim Cook why kept the Samsung parent lawsuit alive at D11 in 2013 with @waltmossberg and @karaswisher. His answer was: FRAND standards patents! https://twitter.com/...
@ddayen David Dayen on x
Like banning noncompete agreements has nothing to do with “Big Tech” (it would have helped in Silicon Valley too when Steve Jobs was colluding with other firms over engineers) but it potentially will aid millions of workers
@ddayen David Dayen on x
It's funny that “implement hearing aid legislation Congress passed 3 years ago & surprise billing legislation passed last year” is a win, but in the context of how legislation often goes into the administrative ether never to be heard from again, it is https://www.whitehouse.gov/…
@willwbloom Baby Cheetah on x
Lot of good stuff in here. Top line (rightly) is calling on the FTC to ban or limit non-compete agreements for workers, but also restoring net neutrality, requiring more scrutiny for hospital mergers and limiting restrictive ToS on farming equipment. https://www.whitehouse.gov/..…
@miad Mia Shah-Dand on x
Looking forward to seeing how this is enforced “Encourages the FTC to establish rules barring unfair methods of competition on internet marketplaces.” #antitrust https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
@jbrodkin @jbrodkin on x
I wonder if Biden will nominate an FCC commissioner by the midterms https://twitter.com/...
@laurengoode Lauren Goode on x
A sweeping new presidential directive includes, among other things, an initiative to secure consumers' right to repair their own devices. My latest for @WIRED https://www.wired.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
I assume @amyklobuchar is happy and was obvi impactful here https://twitter.com/...
@chrislu44 Chris Lu on x
Anyone who has spent an entire airplane flight trying to get the expensive WiFi to work will appreciate this provision in a new executive order. 👏👏 And there are many other good pro-consumer provisions. https://www.whitehouse.gov/... https://twitter.com/...

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Biden signs an EO calling on regulators to enact reforms such as increasing scrutiny of tech mergers and focusing more on moves like “killer acquisitions”

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