Already wearing Bull’s-eyes from data privacy lapses, Facebook, Google, and their fellow tech giants now need to worry about competition and the prospect of retroactive merger reviews.
On Feb. 26, the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition announced the creation of a task force focused on monitoring competition in U.S. technology markets, “investigating any potential anticompetitive conduct in those markets, and taking enforcement actions when warranted.”
To create the new Technology Task Force, the Bureau of Competition “will draw upon existing staff and expertise to enhance the Bureau’s focus on technology-related sectors of the economy, including markets in which online platforms compete,” the FTC announcement says. The creation of the task force will be modeled on the FTC’s Merger Litigation Task Force,...