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VOICE ARCHIVE

Lee Hepner

@leehepner
80 posts
2026-03-09
The Justice Department's lead lawyer in the Live Nation trial, David Dahlquist, didn't see the settlement until this morning, even though a term sheet was apparently signed last week. So the lobbyists left the DOJ's lead litigator out of the loop. Insane.
2026-03-09 View on X
Associated Press

The DOJ reaches a settlement in its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation in a case that alleged an illegal monopoly over live events in the US

2026-02-28
Enough with the defeatism. Stop saying Paramount won. Stop saying it now owns CNN. It's very weird to see so many people who have been covering this every day relent to inevitability. This deal will be challenged. Here's California AG Bonta throwing a big flag on the play:
2026-02-28 View on X
The Hollywood Reporter

Paramount agrees to acquire WBD, paying $31 per share in cash, giving WBD an enterprise value of $110B; Paramount paid a $2.8B breakup fee to Netflix

Netflix backed away from its $87.2 billion deal on Thursday. … The two companies formally unveiled the deal Friday after Netflix formally bowed …

As we've been saying for months, the inevitability of a deal among shareholders is divorced from the regulatory risk. Ignoring the law creates a scenario where people feel they have to choose between evils. They do not. The Paramount-WB deal is illegal and should be blocked.
2026-02-28 View on X
The Hollywood Reporter

Paramount agrees to acquire WBD, paying $31 per share in cash, giving WBD an enterprise value of $110B; Paramount paid a $2.8B breakup fee to Netflix

Netflix backed away from its $87.2 billion deal on Thursday. … The two companies formally unveiled the deal Friday after Netflix formally bowed …

2026-02-27
Big development, same remedy: Block it.
2026-02-27 View on X
CNBC

Netflix walks away from a deal to buy WBD's studio and streaming assets after WBD deemed Paramount's $31/share bid to be superior; NFLX jumps 8%+

Netflix is walking away from a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets after the WBD board on Thursday deemed …

2026-02-19
Oh look, a flailing business investing in political favors.
2026-02-19 View on X
New York Times

Meta plans to spend $65M in 2026 to boost AI-friendly state politicians; filings show Meta started two super PACs, one backing the GOP and another for Democrats

Meta's biggest election investment aims to prevent state legislation that it fears could inhibit artificial intelligence development.

2026-02-18
Oh look, a flailing business investing in political favors.
2026-02-18 View on X
New York Times

Meta plans to spend $65M in 2026 to boost state politicians friendly to AI; filings: Meta started two super PACs, one backing the GOP and another for Democrats

Meta's biggest election investment aims to prevent state legislation that it fears could inhibit artificial intelligence development.

2026-02-04
The Google Search appeal is on. A historically important case, where a feckless remedy failed to terminate one of the most unequivocal monopolies of the Big Tech era. The DOJ and 35+ States just filed near simultaneous Notices of Appeal. Today was the deadline to do so. [image]
2026-02-04 View on X
Bloomberg

US v. Google: the DOJ and a group of states will appeal the September 2025 ruling in the Search antitrust case in which Google dodged a forced sale of Chrome

A group of states led by Colorado will appeal a federal judge's ruling that imposed only modest limits on Alphabet Inc.'s Google contracts related …

2026-01-13
It's remarkable that this isn't squarely prohibited by the Google Search remedy. The only difference is Google's Search monopoly was undeniable, whereas people seem to believe there will always be robust competition in AI cloud and foundation model markets.
2026-01-13 View on X
CNBC

Apple signs a multiyear Google deal to use Gemini models to power a more personalized Siri in 2026, saying Google's tech “provides the most capable foundation”

Apple is joining forces with Google to power its artificial intelligence features for products such as Siri later this year.

How is this different than Google wrapping Search (data/underlying models) in Apple's Safari browser? Didn't the Justice Department *just* win a historic antitrust trial about this? A pox on the apologists. A weak remedy leaves the public having won the battle and lost the war. [image]
2026-01-13 View on X
CNBC

Apple signs a multiyear Google deal to use Gemini models to power a more personalized Siri in 2026, saying Google's tech “provides the most capable foundation”

Apple is joining forces with Google to power its artificial intelligence features for products such as Siri later this year.

How is this different than Google wrapping Search (data/underlying models) in Apple's Safari browser? Didn't the Justice Department *just* win a historic antitrust trial about this? A pox on the apologists. A weak remedy leaves the public having won the battle and lost the war. [image]
2026-01-13 View on X
MacRumors

Elon Musk says Apple and Google's Gemini deal “seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and Chrome”

Elon Musk today expressed concern about Apple and Google partnering on a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google's generative AI platform Gemini.

How is this different than Google wrapping Search (data/underlying models) in Apple's Safari browser? Didn't the Justice Department *just* win a historic antitrust trial about this? A pox on the apologists. A weak remedy leaves the public having won the battle and lost the war. [image]
2026-01-13 View on X
MacRumors

Apple and Google say Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini will help power not only a more personalized Siri, but also “future Apple Intelligence features”

Joe Rossignol /MacRumors:

It's remarkable that this isn't squarely prohibited by the Google Search remedy. The only difference is Google's Search monopoly was undeniable, whereas people seem to believe there will always be robust competition in AI cloud and foundation model markets.
2026-01-13 View on X
MacRumors

Apple and Google say Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini will help power not only a more personalized Siri, but also “future Apple Intelligence features”

Joe Rossignol /MacRumors:

It's remarkable that this isn't squarely prohibited by the Google Search remedy. The only difference is Google's Search monopoly was undeniable, whereas people seem to believe there will always be robust competition in AI cloud and foundation model markets.
2026-01-13 View on X
MacRumors

Elon Musk says Apple and Google's Gemini deal “seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that [they] also have Android and Chrome”

Elon Musk today expressed concern about Apple and Google partnering on a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google's generative AI platform Gemini.

2026-01-12
How is this different than Google wrapping Search (data/underlying models) in Apple's Safari browser? Didn't the Justice Department *just* win a historic antitrust trial about this? A pox on the apologists. A weak remedy leaves the public having won the battle and lost the war. [image]
2026-01-12 View on X
CNBC

Apple signs a multiyear Google deal to use Gemini and Google Cloud to power Siri's features in 2026, saying Google's tech “provides the most capable foundation”

- Apple is teaming up with Google to use Gemini models for an AI-powered Siri

It's remarkable that this isn't squarely prohibited by the Google Search remedy. The only difference is Google's Search monopoly was undeniable, whereas people seem to believe there will always be robust competition in AI cloud and foundation model markets.
2026-01-12 View on X
CNBC

Apple signs a multiyear Google deal to use Gemini and Google Cloud to power Siri's features in 2026, saying Google's tech “provides the most capable foundation”

- Apple is teaming up with Google to use Gemini models for an AI-powered Siri

In just over a year, individualized surveillance pricing has evolved from a thing that most people can hardly believe is happening to a central feature of Google's bid to mediate the entire retail economy. [image]
2026-01-12 View on X
TechCrunch

Google unveils the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that lets AI agents work across customer buying processes, from discovery to support

Google today announced a new open standard, called the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) for AI agent-based shopping, at the National Retail Federation (NRF) conference.

In just over a year, individualized surveillance pricing has evolved from a thing that most people can hardly believe is happening to a central feature of Google's bid to mediate the entire retail economy. [image]
2026-01-12 View on X
Financial Times

Google introduces new personalized ads in its Gemini-powered AI Mode, letting advertisers offer exclusives for users preparing to buy a product

Tech giant moves to gain an edge in race to monetise popular AI tools  —  Google is introducing new personalised advertising …

2025-12-18
Oh look, the Trump-Vance @FTC suddenly cares about surveillance pricing, a near year after killing Lina Khan's study of the practice. Cynicism aside, the Instacart expose is exploding for good reason. It's a morality tale about being scammed, and Instacart is the villain.
2025-12-18 View on X
Reuters

Sources: the US FTC is investigating Instacart's AI pricing tool, after a study showed different prices for the same items at the same stores; CART drops 8%+

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is probing Instacart (CART.O), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters …

2025-11-25
What a total farce. This sham settlement violates the first thing we tell every lawmaker: Fixing prices based on public data sets is still price fixing! No ban on auto-accepts. No data disgorgement or monetary penalty. This is lipstick on a pig and terrible for renters.
2025-11-25 View on X
New York Post

The US DOJ settles its case against RealPage, which it accused of building algorithms that allowed landlords to illegally collude to drive up rental prices

Thomas Barrabi / New York Post :

I wanted more than most for this settlement to be good. RealPage should not be allowed to align price strategies. Fair rents depend on independent decisionmaking. So RealPage will need to stop using nonpublic data. Big whoop. They voluntarily decided to do this a year ago. [image]
2025-11-25 View on X
New York Post

The US DOJ settles its case against RealPage, which it accused of building algorithms that allowed landlords to illegally collude to drive up rental prices

Thomas Barrabi / New York Post :