08/30/2018

News Media Alliance asks FTC to protect online competition

From The NMA

On Monday, August 20, the Alliance filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ahead of its upcoming hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century. In the comments, the Alliance raises the online platforms’ anticompetitive conduct and its impact on journalism and consumers.

The comments outline the unprecedented influence and control the platforms exert on the U.S. news media, and how this makes it difficult for news publishers to build sustainable digital business models. The comments further note that the platforms’ dominant position was not acquired through competition on the merits but, rather, through serial acquisitions and exclusionary conduct, together with lax enforcement of anticompetitive conduct. Consequently, the Alliance suggests ways that the FTC can more effectively scrutinize the dominant platforms through its antitrust and consumer protection authority.

The comments follow the FTC’s announcement in June of a series of hearings on whether economic, business, technological, and international changes require adjustments to competition and consumer protection enforcement and policy. Last week, the FTC also published the dates and locations of its first hearings, with more dates and topics to be announced.

Read Alliance CEO David Chavern’s blog post on our comments here.