Tag: Facebook
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CMA blocks the Facebook/Giphy merger: you can’t say they didn’t warn us
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) investigation into the acquisition of Giphy by Facebook (now Meta) has been watched by merger control practitioners with morbid fascination. It has included everything one could wish for in a merger case – a Big Tech killer acquisition (arguably), novel theories of harm (arguably), satellite litigation, the highest…
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The UK’s regulatory regime for Big Tech: will the Government dare to make it more effective?
The British Government’s consultation on the design of the new regulatory regime for Big Tech (the “Consultation”) closed on Friday. We gave our initial thoughts on this legislation back in July. This blog post picks out some of the other important issues. For the most part, the Government has followed the advice of the CMA’s…
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Texas, other US States sue Google for anti-competitive conduct and collusion with Facebook
Last Wednesday, on 16 December 2020, Texas and nine other US States filed an antitrust lawsuit before the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas with respect to Google’s conduct in ad tech (reminder: almost two months earlier the Department of Justice sued Google with respect to its practices in general search; click here…
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FTC, US States file antitrust lawsuit against Facebook to challenge its “buy-or-bury”, “open-first, closed-later” strategies
Wednesday December 9th, 2020: the US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and 48 US States (led by New York State Attorney General Letitia James) filed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, arguing the tech giant has unlawfully maintained its monopoly power in the market for “Personal Social Networking” in breach of Section 2 of the Sherman Act (see…
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ACCC to create mandatory code of conduct for Google, Facebook
In April 2020 Josh Frydenberg, Treasurer of Australia, ordered the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) to create a mandatory code of conduct governing the relationships between digital platforms and media businesses. The ACCC had been working on a voluntary code of conduct as a follow up to its Final Report on its Digital Platforms…
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Facebook calls for regulation
In February 2020, Facebook issued a white paper calling for stricter regulation of harmful content online and for the creation of new type of regulator that will have “proficiency in data, operations, and online content.” Facebook advocates for a regulatory framework whereby governments, companies and civil society share responsibilities and work together to reduce harmful…