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Sep 18, 2024 | 
medium.com | Kay Jebelli
Last week’s long-awaited report on European Competitiveness by economist Mario Draghi — the former European Central Bank President and Italian Prime Minister — was an indictment of the last 20 years of European industrial policy. But will it be only the latest in a series of 400-page reports, forgotten or dismissed, because the truths were too inconvenient for Brussels?
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Jun 11, 2024 | 
medium.com | Kay Jebelli
The 2024 European Parliament elections that closed on Sunday represent an important bellwether for the shape of EU politics, informing what is to come for the next five years. These elections determine the members (MEPs) from 27 countries who, although they do not initiate legislation, play a crucial role in crafting it.
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Apr 18, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Daniel Gilman |Mario Zúñiga |Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli
Last week was the occasion of the “spring meeting”; that is, the big annual antitrust convention in Washington, D.C. hosted by the American Bar Association (ABA) Antitrust Section. To engage in a bit of self-plagiarism (efficient for me, at least), I had this to say about it last year:For those outside the antitrust world, the spring meeting is the annual antitrust version of Woodstock. For those inside the antitrust world: Antitrust Woodstock is not really a thing.
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Apr 17, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Mario Zúñiga |Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli |Gregory J. Werden
The U.S. Justice Department’s (DOJ) recent complaint charging Apple with monopolizing smartphone markets is, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, intended as a contribution to the agency’s “enduring legacy of taking on the biggest and toughest monopolies in history.”Unfortunately, the case has fundamental weaknesses in its assessment of both Apple’s alleged monopoly power and the “exclusionary” nature of its business strategies.
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Apr 16, 2024 | 
laweconcenter.org | Ben Sperry |Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli
TL;DRTL;DRBackground: There has been recent legislative movement on a pair of major bills related to children’s online safety and privacy. H.R. 7891, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has 62 cosponsors in the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, H.R. 7890, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) also has bipartisan support within the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.
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Apr 16, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli |Allan Fels |Chris DeMuth Jr.
In this “Age of the Administrative State,” federal agencies have incredible latitude to impose policies without much direction or input from Congress. President Barack Obama fully pulled off the mask in 2014, when he announced “[w]e are not just going to be waiting for legislation,” declaring “I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone.” Subsequent presidents have similarly discovered that they had pens and phones, too. But that’s not how things are supposed to work.
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Apr 16, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Kay Jebelli |Gregory J. Werden |Brian Albrecht |Allan Fels
It’s easy for politicians to make unrealistic promises. Indeed, without a healthy skepticism on the part of the public, they can grow like weeds. In the world of digital policy, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) has proven fertile ground for just such promises. We’ve been told that large digital platforms are the source of many economic and social ills, and that handing more discretionary power to the government can solve these problems with no apparent side effects or costs.
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Apr 8, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli |Allan Fels
The big news in telecommunications policy last week wasn’t really news at all—the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its proposed rules to classify broadband internet under Title II of the Communications Act. Supporters frame the proposed rules as “net neutrality,” but those provisions—a ban on blocking, throttling, or engaging in paid or affiliated-prioritization arrangements—actually comprise just a small part of the 435-page document.
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Mar 19, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Kristian Stout |Dirk Auer |Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli
The European Parliament’s approval last week of the AI Act marked a significant milestone in the regulation of artificial intelligence. While the law’s final text is less alarming than what was initially proposed, it nonetheless still includes some ambiguities that could be exploited by regulators in ways that would hinder innovation in the EU.
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Mar 12, 2024 | 
truthonthemarket.com | Dirk Auer |Eric Fruits |Kay Jebelli
If you live in Europe, you may have noticed issues with some familiar online services. From consent forms to reduced functionality and new fees, there is a sense that platforms like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Apple are changing the way they do business. Many of these changes are the result of a new European regulation called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which seeks to increase competition in online markets. Under the DMA, so-called “gatekeepers” must allow rivals to access their platforms.
