Agency antitrust efforts will continue to check AI effectively – legislation is not key

David, JD Harvard Law School, Executive Director of Towards Justice since 2018 and previously was Litigation Counsel with the organization. Colorado Politics, “Update antitrust laws, regs to cultivate competition, tame Big Tech, Opinion,” June 24, 2024 https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/update-antitrust-laws-regs-to-cultivate-competition-tame-big-tech-opinion/article_ff7182c0-3039-11ef-83cd-cbe2dd3a4956.html

Our federal and state antitrust regulators and enforcers have taken many important steps to reign in abuses of corporate power. They’ve already gone after Amazon for vertical restraints imposed on independent sellers who sell through the Amazon marketplace; they’ve sued to stop anti-competitive mergers; and the FTC has even taken on one of the most problematic vertical restraints in our marketplace with a proposed rule to prohibit non-compete agreements. We need to keep the pedal to the metal to take on vertical restraints. I’d urge the FTC and AG Weiser to investigate Microsoft’s tying practices — just like regulatory bodies in the EU and Britain have — and the vertical restraints Amazon and other corporations use to control their workers while attempting to avoid accountability to them. Our antitrust laws and regulations were put on the books long before with the advent of the digital world and the proliferation of fine-print contracting designed to limit competition and exercise dominance. But those laws were designed precisely to deal with these kinds of abuses of power. Through aggressive enforcement of these rules and by standing up against unfair practices, we can start breaking down the unfair advantages seized by Big Tech and move toward a safer and more equitable future.